Martial Peak

While all the Emperor Realm Masters were standing on their respective spots, the other cultivators were ordered by Grandmaster Sun to head to the middle and sit down cross-legged. Several hundred cultivators were not a lot of people, but they looked intimidating when gathered together.

After everything was ready, Grandmaster Sun yelled in an agitated voice, "Begin!"

Upon hearing that, all Emperor Realm Masters started performing their own hand seals and circulating their power. At that instant, lights could be seen shining at their feet and then shot into the air, which illuminated the entire valley.

The dazzling lights soon curbed and turned into patterns in the array as they flowed towards the centre.

Right then, someone could be heard spraying out liquid from his mouth as the array started buzzing and trembling, as though he was about to collapse. The expression on Grandmaster Sun's face changed as he turned to look in a particular direction, only to see that Zhou Quan had turned pale and he was staggering. The blood streaming out of his mouth suggested that he was the one who had sprayed out blood earlier.

Grandmaster Sun's face fell when he saw that.

Feeling guilty, Zhou Quan said, "It's because of my injury…"

Grandmaster Sun cut him off by calling him 'waste', then he motioned for the pale-faced man to replace him. This Spirit Array required everyone to join forces to activate it. Since there was a problem with Zhou Quan, it would affect the entire array. If they didn't make up for it quickly, the array would fall apart in no time.

Fortunately, he still had a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master as his bodyguard who would be useful now.

The pale-faced man flew into the array before he clenched Zhou Quan's collar and hurled him away. As he performed a hand seal, the array was soon put under control.

In the valley, the array patterns shone again and slowly began rotating. If anyone were to look at it from a bird's-eye view, he would see that the patterns in the valley had formed into a huge Yin Yang symbol, which looked like two lively fish as they roamed around the valley.

Right then, a beam of lightning struck in the clear sky and a deafening thunder was heard. Following that, a person appeared out of thin air, hovering above the centre of the array.

Inside the array, Yang Kai became both elated and agitated because the person who appeared was a Pseudo-Great Emperor!

He almost couldn't contain his urge to laugh. Over the past few days, he had been waiting patiently because he anticipated the arrival of a big fish like this man. When Grandmaster Sun was about to activate the array earlier, he thought that his speculation was wrong and there was no big fish at all. He almost decided to directly kill them all. Fortunately, he had waited for a while longer.

Now, it seemed that there was indeed a big fish behind all this, but this man had been extremely cautious and hidden his aura, lurking in the dark for a long time before showing up at the last moment.

Yang Kai secretly sized up this newcomer and realised that the person was elegantly dressed, as though he was a scholar of some kind. He also kept an amiable smile on his face all the time. Nobody who came across this person would think that he was from Demon Heavenly Dao.

In order not to expose himself, Yang Kai quickly retracted his gaze.

After that person appeared, Grandmaster Sun hurriedly saluted him, "Greetings, Wind Lord!"

Wind Lord lifted his hand, "Good work so far."

Grandmaster Sun replied, "It is this Sun's honour to work for Sir. Thanks are unnecessary."

Wind Lord nodded, pleased with Grandmaster Sun's attitude.

As Yang Kai listened to them, he immediately figured out who the person was. It had only been a short time since he returned to the Star Boundary, so he knew little about Demon Heavenly Dao. Despite the limited information he had, he knew that the leader of Demon Heavenly Dao was Night Shadow Great Emperor, Can Ye. Can Ye had Four Great Lords, whose names were Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain. All of them were Pseudo-Great Emperors.

Since this person was a Pseudo-Great Emperor, and Grandmaster Sun had called him Wind Lord, it was apparent that he was one of the Four Great Lords that worked directly under Can Ye.

There was no doubt that a big fish had been hooked. Yang Kai lowered his head as he was worried that his excited expression would expose him.

Grandmaster Sun went on to say, "Wind Lord, everything is prepared."

"Very good." Wind Lord put on a faint smile, "If this mission is successful, you'll be the biggest contributor. This King will definitely put in a good word for you in front of my Master."

An elated Grandmaster Sun hung his head low and cupped his fists, "Many thanks, Wind Lord!"

Without speaking further, Wind Lord turned solemn and lifted both his hands. His expression was that of a pilgrim who was holding a sacred item, but there was nothing in his palms.

The next moment, a piece of white bone that was about a palm's length long and curved on both sides appeared in his grasp. There was nothing extraordinary about it as it wasn't a treasure. Besides the fact that it wasn't a bone from a precious beast, it also didn't seem to have any spirituality.

However, Wind Lord was treating this bone as though it was the most precious item in the world.

Yang Kai frowned as he had no idea what the secret hidden behind the bone was. If he wasn't mistaken, it should be a Human rib. Judging from the colour, the owner of the rib must have passed away a long time ago. It wasn't certain how this ordinary-looking bone could remain intact until now.

After summoning the rib, Wind Lord suddenly lifted his hand and then forcefully pushed it down.

Below him was the spot where the hundreds of Demon Heavenly Dao's disciples were meditating with their legs crossed. Presently, all of them had closed their eyes to adjust their breathing, so they couldn't have expected that they would be killed.

These people were not even Emperor Realm Masters though, so even if they had figured out in advance that Wind Lord would make a move on them, they wouldn't have been able to resist.

Following his strike, a gale turned into a tornado and engulfed all those below in an instant, drawing shrieks of pain and terror from below.

The over twenty Emperor Realm Masters had their expressions change drastically as they looked at Wind Lord in horror. Apparently, they had no idea Wind Lord would do such a thing. These disciples were brought over by them, but were all dead now. Why would Wind Lord kill them so ruthlessly?

Although they had been demonified and become part of Demon Heavenly Dao, they still treasured their lives. In a life-or-death moment like this, all they would consider were themselves.

Grandmaster Sun immediately bellowed, "All of you, settle down. If the array is interrupted now, all of you will suffer severe backlash. Wind Lord has obtained enough blood from the sacrifice, so your lives are not required. All you must do is help maintain the array."

Regardless of whether what he had said was true or not, the Emperor Realm Masters relaxed slightly upon hearing this. However, they were still displeased that such information had been hidden from them until now.

They were also frustrated at the fact that this array couldn't be interrupted without all of them suffering backlash.

The only person who was unfazed was Yang Kai, because he was powerful enough to battle against Wind Lord. Furthermore, this array indeed required Human lives as sacrifices. Yang Kai already had this speculation, but he hadn't been certain. What Wind Lord had done had basically proved him right.

Inside the tornado, the shrieks only lasted a short time before they died down. Although there were hundreds of Demon Heavenly Dao's disciples, they were totally no match for the Pseudo-Great Emperor and were all killed with just one strike.

Wind Lord curled his finger, after which a gap appeared in the tornado. Through the gap, a river of blood streamed out and was then drawn towards him before flowing into the rib in his hand.

As soon as the blood came into contact with the bone, it disappeared.

It was a very strange sight. There didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about the piece of bone, but it was able to devour so much blood without its colour changing. The blood collected from hundreds of people was abundant, but under Wind Lord's lead, it continuously streamed into the rib.

Gradually, the rib went through some changes. Some complicated patterns started appearing on the rib. It seemed that these patterns were already on the rib, but they were hidden by someone using an abstruse technique. Following what Wind Lord had done, they finally resurfaced.

Upon seeing the patterns, Wind Lord became excited. As the bone kept devouring the blood, more patterns appeared and slowly covered the entire rib. At the same time, a very special aura started exuding from it.

Yang Kai shuddered and his expression was transformed by horror. Although the aura was weak, he could clearly feel that it belonged to a Great Emperor!

After so much blood was devoured, many patterns started appearing on the ordinary-looking rib, which was now exuding a Great Emperor's aura.

Initially, Yang Kai thought that he was mistaken, but the aura slowly got stronger.

The reason it had turned weak was that a long time had passed since the true owner of this rib died. Despite that, the core power within the bone never changed.

Yang Kai was dumbfounded. He was already surprised that a big fish had taken the bait, but he couldn't have expected such a turn of events.

A Great Emperor's aura wouldn't appear for no reason. Since it had something to do with the rib, it meant that the bone belonged to one of the Great Emperors!

[Who? Who does it belong to?]

He had met all ten Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, and he had also come into contact with Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, Wu Kuang, so he was certain that this rib didn't belong to any of the Great Emperors he knew because the aura didn't match.

Since it wasn't a rib from the present Great Emperors, it meant that it must belong to one of the Great Emperors from the past.

All of a sudden, a Great Emperor's name sprang into Yang Kai's mind.

Just then, Wind Lord abruptly grunted.

Yang Kai shot him a secret glance and realised that the rib in Wind Lord's hand was buzzing and shaking, as though it was about to fly away. Certainly, Wind Lord wouldn't allow that to happen, so he grabbed the bone instead and firmly held it in his right hand.

The bone was still shaking, and a grunt was heard again. Yang Kai could clearly see that Wind Lord's right hand, which was holding the rib, was ageing rapidly as his skin withered and became dull.

At that instant, it seemed that a thousand years had passed for his right hand.

It was then Yang Kai became certain that his speculation was right. They were now at the entrance of the Four Seasons Realm, and the person related to this place was none other than Flowing Time Great Emperor!

It wasn't certain how Wind Lord managed to obtain one of the ribs from Flowing Time Great Emperor, but he had summoned others to arrange a Grand Array here and used some kind of Evil Secret Technique to reignite the hidden spirituality in the bone. It was apparent that he had a very aggressive goal.

Although many years had passed, and it was just a rib, the power of the Great Emperor's Time Principles had been branded into every part of his body. The Power of Time within the rib was still enough to make Wind Lord suffer a setback.