Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

The edges around the semi-circular gap were flat and smooth, as though it had been cut by a sharp tool, which made the top of the mountain look like an upside-down crescent moon as a result.

Both Ying Fei and Fu Ling were stunned, and they wondered how Yang Kai accomplished this. It would not have been surprising for Yang Kai to smash the mountains to bits given his strength; however, it was truly baffling how a semi-circular gap had been carved into the mountain instead.

"Sir, can we leave this place quickly? I'm afraid… they might not be able to withstand this if it goes on any longer." Yuan Wen Long glanced at the several hundred survivors of Water Cloud Sect with a worried expression.

These several hundred people were not very strong and their cultivations had been sealed when they were captured by the Demon Race so they had begun to show symptoms of illness after staying in the Demon Land for so long. Most of them were breathing heavily and their bodies gave off a faint malevolent aura.

The Demon Essence permeating the Demon Land was quietly eroding away at their minds the whole time. This process was not fast, but it was definitely not slow either; moreover, they had just experienced a battle, which had agitated their aggression and accelerated the rate at which the Demon Essence was corrupting their thoughts. If they continued to stay here for much longer, most of them would probably undergo demonification. That was why Yuan Wen Long wanted to get them out of here quickly.

Yang Kai understood what Yuan Wen Long was worried about, so he nodded and ordered, "Relax and don't resist!"

Reaching out a large hand to the front, his Divine Sense covered those hundreds of people as he placed them into the Small Sealed World.

A short while later, three figures rose into the sky. The passage in the sky that was connecting the two worlds had been sealed by Yang Kai, but the black spot and the Demon Land could not be eliminated. The situation was exactly the same as what had happened in the Western Territory a few days ago, which made Yang Kai a little uneasy.

It didn't take the Sixty-First Army more than five days to round up and wipe out all the remaining Demons that had fled from Water Cloud Sect. If the enemy army had gathered together in one place, they might have stood a fighting chance against the Sixty-First Army, but spread out, it only gave the Humans a chance to pick them off one by one. There was not much of a resistance at all and hundreds of thousands of Demons were annihilated as a result, with few slipping through the net.

Even so, the army did not stop advancing. They divided into two groups again and continued heading deeper into the Northern Territory. During their journey, Yang Kai sealed more than ten Two Worlds' Passages.

The Sixty-First Army was a formidable force, so they rarely encountered any enemies that could put up a decent fight. Only the armies led by Half-Saints could stall the Sixty-First Army's advance. Some places even had more than one Half-Saint, which gave a real challenge.

At the same time, the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary were like fifty-five blades sweeping across the Eastern, Southern, and Western Territories. They charged through the entire Star Boundary, engaging in large-scale battles almost every day. Both Humans and Demons suffered heavy casualties, countless cities and Sects were destroyed, and millions died as a result.

Approximately half a month later, the situation had become clear. There were exactly one hundred and eight of those ink-like spots scattered across the Star Boundary, evenly distributed throughout the four territories!

There was still no news from the Great Emperors; however, the people in the Star Boundary confirmed that the Demon Saints had also disappeared without a trace. Back when the ten Demon Saints crossed into this world from the Demon Realm, the seven Great Emperors, along with Yu Ru Meng and the others, had separated to pursue the enemy. Whenever they exchanged blows with each other, the commotions were so great that it wouldn't be wrong to call them catastrophic. It was hard not to notice their fights, so it drew the attention of many and in the end, those people witnessed the world split apart, and a gigantic arm emerge from the crack. That sight was personally witnessed by many; therefore, it was easy to learn about what had happened back then with a little investigation.

The Great Emperors and the Demon Saints had been taken away by those gigantic hands, a story nobody wanted to believe. Li Wu Yi secretly guessed that the gigantic hand was not caused by some Divine Ability as there was nobody in this world who could accomplish that. It must have been something the Demon Saints had secretly set up in the Demon Realm, which would activate when those cracks opened.

That conjecture was quite reasonable. The disappearance of the Great Emperors had caused many people to panic, but learning that the Demon Saints had also gone missing slightly mollified their anxiety. They had been afraid that the Demon Saints had remained in this world while the Great Emperors were missing. If that had been the case, nobody in the Star Boundary could have fought back. Regardless of how powerful the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary were, there would come a day when they were completely wiped out by the enemy.

The black spots in the sky were enormous, and a faint black light could be seen glowing and flashing from within. Every time the light flashed; the black spots would expand at an imperceptible rate. Nothing would be detected in the short term, but if this continued for long enough, the entire Star Boundary would eventually be devoured.

A certain Demon Land stretched out three hundred thousand kilometres in every direction beneath with an army totalling over a million stationed on its periphery, the camps seemingly going on forever with no end in sight.

How high-spirited had the fifty-five armies been back when they gathered in the Western Territory to await the opening of the Two Worlds' Passage so they could assault the Demon Race?

An attack had indeed happened, but it was the Demon Race that had opened the Two Worlds' Passage. The Demon Race suffered more than twenty million casualties on the Western Territory battlefield, which was a significant loss, but the Demon Race corpses had released rich Demon Qi which spread out across various territories of the Star Boundary. Under some sort of blessing from an unknown force, one hundred and eight passages had been opened in the Star Boundary that day, bringing unimaginable disaster with it.

In the beginning, nobody could have imagined that the war would progress in this direction. Under the will of the Heavens, countless wars had broken out everywhere in the Star Boundary.

It had been more than a month since the incident at the Western Territory, and during that time, the Sixty-First Army had fought in various places across the Northern Territory. Instead of decreasing in numbers, however, the Sixty-First Army had expanded considerably instead. At present, there were three hundred and fifty thousand people among its ranks.

This was a natural result. When Li Wu Yi first sent out recruitment letters to the entire Star Boundary, most of the cultivators had the same mindset as those from Water Cloud Sect. They chose self-preservation, thinking that somebody higher up would hold up the sky for them even if it came crashing down. Besides, the Western Territory was very far away and the war would never affect them, so they turned a blind eye to it.

But now, the Demon Race's methods had shattered their illusions. In this one month alone, countless people had lost their homes and families while numerous Sects and Clans had been slaughtered. Of those who survived, some were frightened out of their minds and fled in a panic. There were also some who carried the burning desire for revenge in their hearts and volunteered to join the armies in order to fight.

That was how the Sixty-First Army expanded. Even so, the Sixty-First Army was strict in selecting people. Even though many people volunteered themselves to the army, only a few tens of thousands were accepted mainly as a means of replenishing their ranks.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai's Small Sealed World was dangerously full. The space in the first region of the Small Sealed World had always been limited and he had taken in many people during his month. At this point, there were tens of millions of refugees inside the Small Sealed World. Only the piece of land where the medicine garden was located was relatively empty; everywhere else was simply filled to the brim.

The second region of the Small Sealed World had been stripped away. On the other hand, the remaining third region was vast and could accommodate many times more people with no trouble at all, but it was formed from devouring various Demon Realm continents. It could be considered as a second incomplete Demon Realm, so how could weak Humans from the Star Boundary survive there? If Yang Kai really put them in there, it would not be long before they were eroded by the Demon Essence and reduced to Demons themselves.

Since the Small Sealed World could not take in any more people, they could only provide directions to the fleeing refugees they came across so that they could escape towards High Heaven Palace. As for whether they survived or not, nobody could afford to care; after all, war had always been a cruel affair.

Meanwhile, the Thirty-Fifth Army under Bing Yun had expanded to more than six hundred thousand people at this point. In comparison, the Sixty-First Army had not expanded by much, with the reason being that the heritage of the Thirty-Fifth Army was not as strong as that of the Sixty-First Army. They suffered great casualties every time they encountered Demon Race armies, so it was only natural for them to replenish and expand their ranks as much as possible. For that reason, they welcomed anybody who had the will to fight and kill the enemy.

Whether it was the Sixty-First Army or the Thirty-Fifth Army, they were both primarily formed from Northern Territory cultivators and had returned to the Northern Territory after the incident at the Western Territory. Just like the Sixty-First Army, the Thirty-Fifth Army had been constantly fighting during the past month or so.

Five days ago, the two armies joined forces outside Blue Wave City. Blue Wave City was a small town. According to the stories, an Emperor Realm Master came here in the past and created a prosperous home in this place. His presence attracted people from all over the world, which gradually led to the formation of this city. As the Emperor Realm Master's name contained the characters for 'Blue Wave', the city was named after him. Still, this was something that happened a long, long time ago and there was no way to verify if it was the truth.

Blue Wave City was originally an unknown little town in the vast Northern Territory with a population of several tens of thousands. Moreover, the strongest in the city was only in the Dao Source Realm. There was not a single Emperor Realm Master and it was inferior to even Maplewood City back then. Nevertheless, it was now very famous. That couldn't be helped though as this was the place where Demon Saint Huang Wu Ji and Iron Blood Great Emperor Zhan Wu Hen had fought each other and gone missing together.

When the Demon Saints and Great Emperors vanished, the sky cracked open and the black spots came into being. The surroundings of Blue Wave City turned into a Demon Land, and this place became one of the hundred and eight Demon Strongholds.

A Demon Race army of nearly three million was stationed inside this Demon Stronghold. In addition. There was no end to them at a glance. With so many of the Demon Race gathered in one place, it caused the world to fill with Demon Qi.

Over the past five days, the Sixty-First and Thirty-Fifth Army had joined forces and fought against the Demon Race army in this place three times, but each attempt to wipe the enemy out had ended in failure.

This Demon Stronghold was clearly different from all the others that Yang Kai had encountered recently. The Demon Race seemed to place great importance on this place. Not only was there a Demon Race army of three million stationed here, but there were also as many as five Half-Saints assuming command.

There were quite a few Masters under Yang Kai's command. Like the enemy, there were four Half-Saints, namely Zhui Feng, the Embodiment, Bai Zhuo, and Bai Ya, in addition to himself, who was almost equivalent to a Half-Saint in terms of combat power. What's more, Bing Yun was a Pseudo-Great Emperor.

Comparing the numbers of Half-Saints, the two armies combined were not inferior to the Demon Race army. The only disadvantage they had was in terms of the number of troops. An army of one million might not be small, but the Demon Race army had three times that number of soldiers. Furthermore, the Demons were defending from inside the Demon Land. The Demon Qi that was ubiquitous in the Demon Land had a negative effect on the combat power of ordinary Humans while it provided a boon to the Demons.

During the first confrontation, the two parties had fought for a full day and night. The corpses of both sides could be seen everywhere within a radius of three hundred thousand kilometres. When the order to withdraw finally came, only several hundred thousand remained of the one million strong army.

Unable to break through the Demon Race army's defences, Yang Kai and Bing Yun had no choice but to retreat when they saw that the Bloodlust Spell's effect was about to end. That night, Yang Kai placed Bing Yun and all the Half-Saints under his command in the Small Sealed World. Then, he infiltrated the Demon Race camp all on his own to take down the enemy leaders. As long as they could get rid of the five Half-Saints, the rest of the Demon Race army would have nothing left but numbers.