Martial Peak

Throughout history, there were not many Great Emperors in total. Due to the limited capacity of this world, there would never be more than ten Great Emperors at any one time.

Despite that, the number of Great Emperors that had ever existed couldn't be considered small; after all, the Star Boundary had been in existence for countless years. As one era fell, another would rise. There would always be new Great Emperors replacing the old ones.

Although there had been many generations of Great Emperors, there were two who stood out amongst them all as their powers far exceeded all others. One of them was Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, Wu Kuang, who had single-handedly killed four other Great Emperors in the Great Emperors War in the Shattered Star Sea. The other one was Flowing Time Great Emperor, who had mastered the Dao of Time.

Wu Kuang was still alive as his Soul had occupied half of Duan Hong Chen's body, with both Souls currently inhabiting the same body. Presently, nobody knew where Wu Kuang was. On the other hand, Flowing Time Great Emperor had passed away a long time ago.

In fact, Flowing Time Great Emperor had comprehended the Grand Dao far before Wu Kuang ever did. There had been speculation among the people in the Star Boundary that if Flowing Time Great Emperor and Heaven Devouring Great Emperor lived in the same era, a great struggle would have broken out between the two to see who would emerge supreme.

However, it now seemed like Flowing Time Great Emperor comprehended some kind of mystery of the Outer Universe when he was cultivating in seclusion, so he decided to set off to explore the universe on his own. Unfortunately, a few hundred years later, he passed away and only his Legacy Artifact, the Infinite Hourglass, returned to the Flowing Time Temple.

How dangerous must the Outer Universe be that even Flowing Time Great Emperor was unable to traverse it safely?

There were countless worlds in this vast universe. Both the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm were independent worlds, but where did Flowing Time Great Emperor go while he explored the universe? What happened to him? No one knew anything about it, not even Qiong Qi.

After the hourglass returned, Qiong Qi was extremely mournful. He wanted to seek revenge for the Great Emperor, but he didn't even know who or where the enemies were, so how could he do that? Left with no choice, he could only stay in the Flowing Time Temple and wait for the right person to receive the Great Emperor's inheritance so that he could fulfil what he had promised the Great Emperor before the latter embarked on his journey.

At this point, Qiong Qi appeared quite guilt-ridden.

Yang Kai stared at him with narrowed eyes, "Old Qiong, that wasn't very honourable of you!"

Yang Xue was intelligent, so she knew why Qiong Qi felt guilty and understood the meaning behind Yang Kai's words. Since they had received Flowing Time Great Emperor's inheritance and became his Inheritance Disciples, they were now duty bound to seek revenge for their Honoured Master. That was the reason Yang Kai was displeased with Qiong Qi.

With a smile, however, Yang Xue commented, "This is still an opportunity for Xiao'er and me. We were fortunate enough to have received our Honoured Master's inheritance, so this is the least we should do for him. Big Brother, please don't blame Old Qiong."

Yang Kai frowned, but he soon realised something. Flowing Time Great Emperor had lost his life in the Outer Universe, and although Yang Xue and Yang Xiao had obtained the Great Emperor's inheritance, it would take them many years to reach a level of cultivation that would allow them to even think of seeking revenge for the Great Emperor. At the very least, they had to be powerful enough to leave the Star Boundary like Flowing Time Great Emperor first.

No one knew when that would happen, so it was pointless to harp on this issue now.

"What happened next?" Yang Xue turned to Qiong Qi.

Qiong Qi shook his head, "There's no next. I thought that Old Master had passed away in the Outer Universe. After the hourglass returned, I left the temple to gather some information, but to no avail. Now, it seems that Old Master's remains had also returned to the Star Boundary at that time, but I hadn't managed to find out about it."

If that wasn't the case, how could Wind Lord have obtained a bone from Flowing Time Great Emperor's body?

Then, Qiong Qi turned to look at Wind Lord. Yang Xue looked in the same direction and realised that they had to pry the information about the Great Emperor's remains out of this man.

Even while they were having a chat just now, Yang Xue did not forget to reverse time for Wind Lord from time to time to ensure that he wouldn't die of his injuries.

It was torture truly worse than death for Wind Lord. Although Yang Xiao hadn't used all his strength, he made sure that he would beat Wind Lord until his life had all but left him. Only at the precipice of death would the young woman shoot out a beam of light from her finger and use that invisible force to drag him back from death's embrace, and then he would be assaulted by Yang Xiao again.

It had been a long time since Wind Lord started cultivating, but he had never even imagined such a cruel method of torturing someone. He was literally being forced to wander back and forth across the gates of death. The kind of terror this imprinted in his soul soon consumed his mind, as he was denied the right to beg for life or death. Although he was a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he was unable to hold his ground any longer. At this moment, he was trembling violently like a quail in the winter, his gaze filled with terror as he looked at Yang Xiao.

Certainly, Yang Xiao heard what the others had talked about, so he grabbed Wind Lord's collar and pulled him towards himself before glaring at him, "You will answer all of this Young Master's questions. If you dare to lie, I will cut open your chest, pull out your organs and soak them in acid until they melt before feeding them to you one by one. You've seen what my Little Aunt is capable of doing. Trust me. Even if we dig out your five viscera and six organs, only to make you choke them down again, she can ensure you relive the experience every day for the next ten thousand years."

Wind Lord's face was all swollen and his entire body was covered in shoe prints, but when Yang Xiao spoke, he couldn't help but imagine himself being force-fed his own innards over and over again for all eternity. After a shudder, he quickly nodded his head in a weak manner.

So what if he was a Pseudo-Great Emperor? In the face of such an unbearable torment, he was no different from an ordinary mortal as his psychological defences had crumbled.

"Where did you get that rib bone?" Yang Xiao got straight to the point.

Wind Lord parted his lips and said the answer, and despite his hoarse voice, everyone in the hall was able to hear it clearly.

East Sea!

The East Sea was vast and there were many normal and spirit islands dotted around. The most famous ones were certainly Dragon Island and Spirit Beast Island, but that didn't mean there were no other spirit islands and Sects on the East Sea. On the contrary, a great many Sects existed on the ocean.

Three hundred thousand kilometres away from Spirit Beast Island sat Free Spirit Island, on which Free Spirit Sect was located. It was a small Sect with only two hundred to three hundred people in total.

There were innumerable Sects of such a scale on the East Sea. It hadn't been a long time since Free Spirit Sect had been founded, only about a thousand years; however, since it was located in the open sea, there were a lot of natural resources around which allowed it to thrive.

But one day they had fallen into a crisis, and the Sect was destroyed.

Wind Lord was a disciple from Free Spirit Sect. He was born on the open sea, and a Free Spirit Island Elder took a liking to him and accepted him as a disciple. However, Wind Lord's aptitude was considered average at best, so there were plenty of Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters who joined the Sect later than he did and quickly surpassed him in terms of cultivation. The other Elders didn't have high hopes for him, so they just let him do as he pleased.

He led a carefree life, and besides doing some occasional missions for the Sect, he spent most of his youth playing. He was a fan of diving, and he was pretty good at swimming. Before he started cultivating, he was able to stay in the water for an hour and reach thirty metres below the surface, so after he started cultivating, he was able to reach a thousand metres below the surface.

When he was diving one day, he found Flowing Time Great Emperor's rib bone at the bottom of the sea. At that time, he didn't think it was something important, but he soon realised it was no ordinary bone.

He decided to keep the bone, not telling the others in the Sect about it. When he was free, he would fiddle with the bone. For some reason, since he obtained the bone, his cultivation had started improving rapidly and he was able to reach higher realms quickly.

However, no one found out about it as he hid well. Even the Elder who took him in to be a disciple wasn't aware of this change. Although Wind Lord didn't understand the reason, he knew that the transformation he had gone through must have something to do with the bone, which was why he increasingly treasured it.

Soon, his cultivation surpassed all others in the Sect. It wouldn't have mattered if that was all that had happened, but at some point, something happened that drove him mad. Consumed by some kind of Heart Demon, Wind Lord became fully demonified and killed everyone in his Sect. After coming to his senses sometime later and realizing what kind of crime he had committed, he didn't dare to remain. Thus, he fled the East Sea and went into hiding.

That was when he met Night Shadow Great Emperor. That man allowed him to enter his Sect. With the Great Emperor's rib bone, his cultivation increased further till he reached his current level.

After that, the Demons invaded the Star Boundary and Demon Heavenly Dao rose to prominence. Naturally, Wind Lord sided with them and even became one of its Four Great Lords, after which, he became a famous figure in the Star Boundary.

Over the years, he had been fiddling with the Great Emperor's rib bone. As a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he certainly understood that the bone was extraordinary, and as he felt a sense of gratitude towards his Master, he decided to present the bone to Night Shadow Great Emperor, Can Ye.

As an experienced person, Can Ye was able to figure out the bone's background at first glance. He knew that he was no match for Flowing Time Great Emperor when it came to fame and power, so he was naturally interested in the latter's legacy.

Previously, Can Ye had to keep watch on the Two Worlds' Passage, so he couldn't go off on his own. After Yang Kai returned to the Star Boundary and sealed the passage, the Demons fell into deep trouble, and Can Ye was even more unable to leave; thus, he tasked Wind Lord to go to the Flowing Time Temple.

Wind Lord had been carrying out his plan in secret, but Yang Kai happened to come across this incident and destroy the Spirit Array he was using, after which the palace disappeared into the Four Seasons Realm. Left with no other choice, Wind Lord decided to dive into the palace and refine the Infinite Hourglass so that he could make use of it to control the temple.

After that, he fell into an intense battle with Yang Kai. Up until this point, he still couldn't figure out how a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master was able to go against him, which led both of them to be severely injured. In the end, two freaks like Yang Xiao and Yang Xue, as well as Qiong Qi had come to Yang Kai's rescue.

Wind Lord felt that he was probably the unluckiest person in the world. He would die with untold grievances if he were to lose his life now.

After hearing the story behind it, Qiong Qi asked with a frown, "There was only a single rib bone?"

Wind Lord replied lethargically, "That's right."

At this point, Wind Lord probably wouldn't lie to them. Since he said that there was only one, it must be the truth.

"Have you revisited the place over the years?"

"I have." Wind Lord spoke between coughing up blood, as though he was about to lose his life at any moment, "Since I found the Great Emperor's rib bone there, I would definitely revisit the place to conduct a proper search. But I never discovered anything else."

"Do you remember where the place is?" Yang Xue asked.

Wind Lord nodded gently.

"Lead the way for us." Yang Xue stared at him. This was an important issue, so she and Yang Xiao had to personally go over to have a look. Wind Lord was unable to find other remains, but that didn't mean that she and Yang Xiao couldn't; after all, they had received the Great Emperor's inheritance, so they had a connection with their Honoured Master now. If there were other remains at the bottom of the sea, they would certainly detect them as long as they were within a certain range.

With his life or death hinging upon their whims, Wind Lord had no choice but to agree.