Martial Peak

When the Two Worlds' Passage opened for the second time, ten Demon Saints of the Demon Race had crossed over into this world and scattered while the Great Emperors had pursued.

A few days later, a sudden change occurred. Tens of millions of the Demon Race had lost their sanity, fallen into confusion, and slaughtered each other. The entire invading army had been wiped out. At the same time, the Great Emperors vanished.

On the same day, signs of connection between the two Great Worlds had appeared in different locations across the four territories of the Star Boundary. The Star Boundary had been invaded by the Demon Realm, the World Barrier shattered, and a large portion of the environment had been turned into a Demon Land. Numerous Demon Race armies had crossed into the world from the various Demon Lands and gradually spread out to engulf the Star Boundary with the location of each Demon Land as their foundation.

The Star Boundary was in chaos!

Just during the time that Yang Kai spent sealing the Two Worlds' Passage alone, the information received by each Army Commander from various sources indicated that more than thirty Demon Lands had been formed in various locations throughout the four Territories. More importantly, that was only what they had managed to detect within a short period of time. The real number was most likely much higher than that.

All of this was explained in the jade slip that the Lotus Sisters had handed to Yang Kai. The situation was extremely urgent, so Li Wu Yi and the various Army Commanders could not wait any longer. Leaving a jade slip behind to explain the entire situation, they had all departed. Li Wu Yi had also taken almost all of the Demon Race Half-Saints away with him, leaving only the Lotus Sisters who Yang Kai was familiar with to pass on this message.

Yang Kai had just finished reading the contents of the jade slip and had yet to digest this staggering information when the Space Beacon on his wrist suddenly flashed with light and another jade slip appeared out of thin air. The jade slip contained Bian Yu Qing's aura, so it was clearly news sent from High Heaven Palace.

Several months ago, the Sixty-First Army had marched towards the Western Territory. Every cultivator in High Heaven Palace with even the slightest bit of strength worth considering had been taken away by Yang Kai, but somebody had to stay back to watch over and manage the Sect. Bian Yu Qing was the person he had chosen to stay behind this time. For Bian Yu Qing to send news at this time would undoubtedly mean that something had happened in High Heaven Palace.

Yang Kai stretched out his hand and grabbed the jade slip. Checking its content with his Divine Sense, his complexion turned deathly pale in the next moment as he roared, "They court death!"

He crushed the jade slip in his hand. With a flicker of his figure, he tried to return to the Sixty-First Army's base camp when his vision unexpectedly went dark and he was struck by a wave of dizziness, nearly causing him to crash to the ground as a result.

Sealing the Two Worlds' Passage just now had consumed a tremendous amount of his energy, so at this moment, the Demon Qi in his body was experiencing a chaotic flow. Fortunately, Bai Lian reacted quickly and caught him before he fell.

Yang Kai glanced at the sisters and quickly ordered, "Take me back to the camp!"

The Lotus Sisters nodded and pushed their Demon Qi in unison, transforming into a stream of black light that headed towards the Sixty-First Army's base camp. On the other hand, Yang Kai hurriedly swallowed several Spirit Pills and concentrated on refining the medicinal efficacies in hopes of recovering his strength as quickly as possible.

An incense stick later, the Lotus Sisters appeared in front of the Sixty-First Army's base camp with Yang Kai held between them. The Division Commanders immediately surrounded Yang Kai with Yao Si quickly asking, "Sir, what happened? Why have all the other armies withdrawn?"

At this moment, the other fifty-four armies of the Star Boundary were gone. Only the Sixty-First Army remained stationed in this place, waiting for orders; therefore, this group of people had no idea about what was going on at all.

Yang Kai raised his hand and tossed the jade slip Li Wu Yi had left behind to Yao Si, "See for yourself then inform the others. Also, pass on my orders, all troops are to assemble immediately. We are returning to the Northern Territory!"

Yang Xiao accepted the order and immediately relayed it to the rest of the army. In response, the entire army that had been at rest hurriedly got into their military formations.

A short while later, Yao Si handed the jade slip to Xie Wu Wei with a solemn expression before turning to Yang Kai with an incredulous expression, "Sir, is this for real?"

"How could it possibly be fake? In addition, Second Manager Bian has sent word that a Demon Land has appeared just three thousand kilometres away from High Heaven Palace. A large number of the Demons are currently attacking High Heaven Palace!"

Upon hearing those words, everybody became anxious.

Yang Kai lifted his hand, summoned the Sealed World Bead, and had it assume its Gun-Gun form. Gun-Gun subsequently took the entire Sixty-First Army into its belly with a ferocious bite. Having experienced this once before, no one panicked, much. Nobody resisted, even though Yang Kai had not said anything.

Finished, Yang Kai turned to look at Yao Si, pondered for a moment before he decided to say, "The Great Emperors are missing."

This matter could not remain concealed for long, people would find out about it sooner or later, so since it was something that could not be hidden, Yang Kai decided to reveal the truth upfront. There might be no need for the others to know, but Yao Si was the son of a Great Emperor, so it was only right for him to learn of this.

Yao Si, however, just stared at Yang Kai with a blank expression, it was clear that he did not understand the meaning behind the latter's words.

Yang Kai sighed, "Not too long ago, the auras of all the Great Emperors vanished. Supreme Commander Li and I have both tried, but we couldn't connect to the Space Beacons the Great Emperors hold on to. They are no longer in this world."

Yao Si turned deathly pale, unable to believe what he was hearing.

Yang Kai grabbed Yao Si's shoulder and continued, "The Great Emperors are the strongest among us and exceptionally experienced, they won't face any life-threatening dangers. It might just be that something has happened to them that makes it impossible for us to contact them."

Yao Si nodded woodenly at those words.

The Sixty-First Army had been more than three hundred thousand men strong when they first set off on this campaign, but there were now fifty thousand fewer of them. Those fifty thousand people had been killed in battle and dyed the Western Territory with their blood. Even so, this rate of loss was still within an acceptable range compared to the relative losses experienced by the Demon Race and the other armies.

Yang Kai put the Sealed World Bead away once the entire Sixty-First Army had successfully been taken into the Small Sealed World. Taking a step forward, he vanished from that spot, and when he reappeared again, he had already arrived in his bedroom on High Heaven Peak. He had left a Space Beacon inside his room a long time ago, so it was only natural that he could return so quickly.

He felt an earthquake rumbling through the ground as soon as he reappeared and explosions rang out unceasingly without a single pause. Yang Kai flitted out of the door only to see High Heaven Palace in chaos, with streams of light scrambling about between the mountain peaks like headless flies.

He looked around and saw that High Heaven Palace's Sect Defending Array had been activated. The Spirit Peaks were enveloped in a layer of World Energy, flashing with a white light. The Grand Array extracted power from the Earth Veins below and the Spirit Peak above to produce a light curtain that blocked enemy attacks.

Upon seeing this situation, Yang Kai couldn't help breathing a small sigh of relief. He had been scared that he might return only to be greeted by the sight of a breached Grand Array. If that had been the case, countless people in High Heaven Palace would have died as a result.

The Main Sect and Branch Sects of High Heaven Palace had more than a hundred thousand disciples; furthermore, those with even the slightest bit of cultivation worth considering had been forced into the Sixty-First Army. The disciples remaining in High Heaven Palace's Main Sect after the Sixty-First Army was deployed had been pitifully weak aside from Bian Yu Qing, who had some measure of strength in comparison; therefore, they would not have had the strength to fight back if the Sect Defending Array had been breached and the Demon Race had invaded.

Fortunately, the Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace had been personally arranged by Nanmen Da Jun and Yang Kai had spared no expense in preparing all the necessary manpower and materials requested during its construction. That was why the Array was practically impenetrable.

The Demon Race army had attacked aggressively but failed to breach the defences of the Spirit Array in short order. Although the Sect Defending Array had not been breached though, it looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment. There were fine cracks spreading out across the curtain of light and it would probably be completely broken in less than a quarter-hour. Spurred on by this situation, the attacks of the Demon Race army became even fiercer than before.

Bian Yu Qing held the Palace Master Command Token in her hand, mobilizing the World Energy of all the Spirit Peaks in High Heaven Palace to supply a steady stream of power to the Grand Array. She was doing her best to buy as much time as possible, but her cultivation wasn't high enough. Activating the Palace Master Command Token without holding back like that had left her drenched in sweat. Her complexion was as pale as a sheet, and her figure swayed in mid-air as though she might lose consciousness at any moment.

Taking in the situation in an instant, Yang Kai hurriedly flew towards her. Along the way, a person knocked into him from the side. He grabbed the person by the neck and held the person up. Glancing at the person coldly, he noticed that this person was very unfamiliar to him. This person's cultivation could not be considered powerful as he was only in the Third-Order Dao Source Realm.

Yang Kai had taken all the disciples in High Heaven Palace in the Origin King Realm and above with him, so how could there be any cultivators in the Dao Source Realm here? However, High Heaven Palace was the main logistics base of the Star Boundary, so many Alchemists and Artifact Refiners were stationed here as a result. This person was clearly an outsider, and there was a faint pill fragrance coming from his body, so he was probably a visiting Alchemist.

"Why are you panicking!?" Yang Kai shouted.

That person turned pale. He was so shocked that he didn't even resist when he was caught. It was clear that he had been scared out of his wits. He instinctively answered upon hearing Yang Kai's question, "I have to run! High Heaven Palace won't hold out for much longer! It will be too late if I don't run now!"

"Bullshit!" Yang Kai was livid, "Not only do you not think of killing the enemy in front of you, but you also create panic and spread chaos amongst our people! You should thank the Heavens you aren't part of the Sixty-First Army; otherwise, I would have killed you myself!"

When the Alchemist heard those words, he raised his head and looked at Yang Kai, only then did he recognize who was before him and stutter, "Yang… Palace Master Yang!"

"Scram!" Yang Kai tossed the Alchemist aside without much care. He couldn't be bothered to waste time on this person. Taking a step forward, he arrived next to Bian Yu Qing.

Bian Yu Qing had been struggling to hold on, so she couldn't help jumping in fright when she detected somebody approaching her. Turning to look in that direction though, she became overjoyed, "Palace Master!"

Yang Kai nodded, "Leave this to me!"

While speaking, he gave a wave of his hand and Hua Qing Si appeared in front of him. He instructed, "Hear my orders, hold the line for a little longer."

Hua Qing Si nodded at those words, taking over the Palace Master Command Token from Bian Yu Qing and continuing to maintain the Spirit Array.

On the other hand, Bian Yu Qing had long since been an arrow at the end of its flight. The reason she had persisted for so long was through pure force of will. Now that Yang Kai had appeared and Hua Qing Si had taken over the Command Token, she relaxed and immediately passed out, her body falling limply out of the sky.

Yang Kai reached out a hand, placed her into the Small Sealed World's medicine garden, and asked the two Wood Spirits to take care of her. She was only experiencing great exhaustion so her life was in no danger and she simply needed to recuperate for a while to recover. As such, he was not too worried about her.

Somebody flew in this direction from below at that moment. When that person came closer, it was revealed to be Ji Ying. He looked at Yang Kai with a panicked expression as he shouted, "Brother Yang, w-what is going on!? Where did these Demons come from!? Also, why can't I contact my Honoured Master!?"

He had sensed that something was wrong after the sudden appearance of the Demon Race and the unexpected attack on High Heaven Palace; hence, he immediately sent a message to Wondrous Pill Great Emperor in order to ask about the current situation. Who could have imagined that he would be unable to contact the Great Emperor? Ji Ying couldn't even send out the jade slip containing his message. This was something that had never happened before.

Yang Kai replied, "The situation is rather complicated. I will explain the details to you after I resolve the immediate danger we are facing, Brother Ji."

Lifting his hand again, he summoned three figures from the Small Sealed World. They were Qiong Qi, Yang Xiao, and Yang Xue, "Old Qiong, escort Xiao'er to Dragon Island. Tell the two Elders about the current state of affairs and request that Great Elder and Second Elder leave the island to take charge of the overall situation!"

That was Li Wu Yi's plan as mentioned in the jade slip. He knew about the close relationship between Yang Kai and Dragon Island; therefore, he was certain Dragon Island could not turn a blind eye if Yang Kai was the one who came forward with the request.

All the Great Emperors were currently missing and nobody knew what had happened to the Demon Saints. If the Demon Saints were still in the Star Boundary, then the only people in this world who could stand up to them were the two strongest Elders of Dragon Island. Unfortunately, the Dragon Clan abided by their ancestral rules and rarely left the island without reason. That might not be the case for a normal member of the Dragon Clan, but the Great Elder and Second Elder had not left the island for tens of thousands of years. Naturally, that was if one discounted the last time Second Elder Fu Zhun left the island because she had been worried about Yang Xiao.

Li Wu Yi had no idea whether they could get the two Elders to leave the island. Even so, he could only leave this matter to Yang Kai.