Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

"How is it different?" Bing Yun asked.

"They don't know anything about the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. Senior, don't you think that's strange?" Yang Kai scowled fiercely.

"Could it be that the information we received is wrong? Or, is somebody deliberately trying to obscure our sight?"

"I don't think so," Yang Kai slowly shook his head. How could he not understand the meaning behind her words? It was just that the information on the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was something Sheng Yu Zhu had specially given to him. He had no bad blood with Sheng Yu Zhu; rather, she owed him a life debt. There was no reason for her to deceive him on this point. What's more, what was her purpose if she had truly fabricated the information about the Illusionary Heavens Furnace? How would that benefit her?

"Then, what do the Half-Saints from the Demon Realm know?"

His expression became strange, "That's the part that puzzles me the most. They don't know anything."

"They don't know anything? Could it be that Can Ye never told them anything?" Bing Yun was taken aback by the news. Can Ye had participated in the previous Grand Dao battle, gained great benefits from that experience, and became a Great Emperor as a result. Nobody else in the Star Boundary had more knowledge about the situation inside the Profound Heavens Temple than him. The people from the Star Boundary had assumed that Can Ye would surely reveal a lot of information to the enemy, but it would seem that they were overthinking this matter.

"None of them have even seen Can Ye recently, but that's understandable considering that he has been in the process of recuperation. On the contrary, Xue Li issued a command to all the Half-Saints."

"What command?"

Yang Kai glanced at Bing Yun and spoke in a cold and quiet voice, "Kill!"

She laughed, "What kind of command is that?"

Even without that command, the Half-Saints from the Demon Realm and the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary would surely engage in a fierce struggle between two evenly matched opponents the moment they encountered each other. There was no need to specifically issue an order like that.

"To be precise, Xue Li said 'you will naturally know what to do once you've killed enough'," Yang Kai followed up.

"The Demon Saints said that?" She frowned.

He gently nodded.

Bing Yun was silent for a moment before she hazarded a guess, "Could it be that the Heavenly Manifestation will only be revealed if enough blood and life are sacrificed to it?"

Yang Kai lightly exhaled, "That's what I think too; otherwise, the Demon Saints would not have specifically issued a command like that. There's also another thing that bothers me greatly, however..."

While saying that, he suddenly gave a wave of his hand and a mummified corpse appeared in front of him. That mummified corpse was completely devoid of moisture, as though all the essence within had dissipated over countless years.

Although it was a corpse, it retained some of the traces from when that person had still been alive and Bing Yun immediately recognised at a glance that the mummified corpse belonged to the Strength Demon from before.

"How did he become like this?" She frowned deeply. A moment later, her expression changed greatly and she looked at him and exclaimed, "Yang Kai, you couldn't have..."

Yang Kai laughed, "Don't worry, Senior. I might know the essence of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, but I did not cultivate that evil Secret Technique."

This mummified corpse looked like somebody had used a Secret Art to suck out all the essence from it, similar to the effects of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, so he knew what she was worried about.

"To be honest, I didn't kill him either."

Although Yang Kai had the ability to do so in the Small Sealed World, the reason for the Strength Demon's death was the activation of the Soul Seal. Not only could the Soul Seal in his mind cause a backlash to those who tried to search his Soul, but it also activated without warning when he so much as gave up the slightest bit of information regarding the Profound Heavens Temple. That was what caused him to die on the spot. That was also related to why Yang Kai had only managed to retrieve so little information.

"However, at that moment after his death, I clearly felt an invisible force passing through the boundary of the Small Sealed World, enveloping him, and draining him of all his vitality."

Yang Kai was the Master of the Small Sealed World, so his perception was incredibly sharp inside of it. Therefore, the subtle force had not escaped his notice despite how hidden it had been. Thinking back to what happened previously, Yang Kai felt as though the veil over his eyes had been lifted...

"How could this be?" Bing Yun seemed extremely puzzled. What kind of power could penetrate the boundary of the Small Sealed World? It was a Sealed World after all.

"Actually… I also killed a Half-Saint soon after we entered this place. This situation is similar to what happened after he died. I didn't notice anything at the time, but… the situation in the Profound Heavens Temple might not be as simple as we believed."

"Are you saying that…"

"All those who participated in the Grand Dao battle will end up in this state if they lose their lives in the Profound Heavens Temple." Yang Kai pointed at the mummified corpse on the ground, a light flashing brightly in his eyes, "Combining that with the command that Xue Li issued to the Half-Saints, I think what you said before makes a lot of sense."

"If that's the case, then we will have to take the initiative to be ruthless. The people from the Demon Realm came prepared. We will suffer a huge loss if we don't take precautions." Bing Yun's expression turned solemn while she was secretly surprised by Yang Kai's strength. He was strong enough to kill a Half-Saint before this incident! As a Pseudo-Great Emperor herself, she knew just how difficult it was to kill an opponent on the same level in a one-on-one battle.

Yang Kai nodded in agreement, "At the very least, we need to let everybody know what kind of situation they are in."

If the final secret of the Profound Heavens Temple and the key to becoming a Great Emperor was the blood sacrifice of many people, then the Demon Race's information already put them ahead of the rest. They had orders from the Demon Saints after all. Combined with the advantage of numbers on their side, they would not be holding back at all.

On the contrary, the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary were probably thinking of avoiding any battles they could under the premise that they had yet to figure out the situation for the time being. If they took on the Demon Race Half-Saints with that kind of attitude, they were bound to suffer a great loss.

After saying that, Yang Kai smiled wryly, "Nevertheless, let's decide once we meet somebody else. You're the first ally I've met since entering this place, Senior."

The person watching him from the shadows before did not count.

Bing Yun smiled in response, "It seems my luck is better than yours. You're the second I've met so far."

"Oh?" Yang Kai was surprised, "Who else did you meet, Senior?"

"Yang Yan."

He was overjoyed at the news, "Where is she!?"

As per the original plan, Yang Yan and Bing Yun were supposed to accompany him as his companions. It was just that they had been separated when they entered the Profound Heavens Temple. Yang Kai had no way to track their whereabouts and even meeting Bing Yun here had been a lucky coincidence. He even had the faint suspicion that the World's Will in his possession was acting in secret. Why else would he encounter Bing Yun being besieged as soon as he came out of retreat?

In any case, it was only natural for him to proceed according to plan since they had already met up with each other. He had planned to look for Yang Yan after this, but who could have expected that Bing Yun had already met her?

Bing Yun pointed a finger in a certain direction, "It's a day's journey in that direction. We found something interesting there, so Yang Yan stayed behind to examine it while I came out to track your whereabouts."

If it was something even a Pseudo-Great Emperor would find interesting, then it must surely be something very precious. That was not surprising, however, as the Profound Heavens Temple was the creation of the world itself. Yang Kai also encountered many good things along the way.

"Let's go and meet up with her. It's always more convenient to take action with more people."

"I was thinking so too." Bing Yun smiled.

The two of them set off immediately, heading in the direction Bing Yun originally came from. Along the way, Yang Kai inquired about their destination. He was curious to know just what it was that had attracted Yang Yan so much that she would stay behind.

Bing Yun did not hide anything from him and answered honestly.

According to her, she began to track his whereabouts after she met Yang Yan in the Profound Heavens Temple. In the end, they failed to locate him but accidentally discovered a strange pool instead. This pool was filled with milky white liquid that was almost a metre deep. Moreover, it exuded an intoxicating aroma that was very refreshing to the senses.

According to Yang Yan's observation, that pool of water was most likely the legendary World Source Liquid.

It would have been nothing if it were just an ordinary treasure. The Grand Dao battle was such a rare opportunity that nobody would waste their precious time to harvest an ordinary treasure unless it was very easy to obtain; however, that was World Source Liquid! It was a precious treasure that was formed only during the birth of a world. Not to mention, it had great and mysterious effects on both the Pseudo-Great Emperors and the Great Emperors. If a person were to consume even a drop of it, they would definitely gain insight into the Heavenly Way and their strength would be greatly increased.

Unfortunately, a Natural Grand Array had formed around the pool. The Grand Array was profound and mysterious, so nobody could approach the pool, much less obtain the World Source Liquid, unless they passed through it.

Yang Yan was the best Artifact Array Grandmaster in the Star Boundary. There was nobody better than her whether it was in Artifact Refining or Spirit Arrays, so if there was anybody in the world who could crack this Natural Spirit Array, she would be the only one.

Therefore, Yang Yan stayed behind to crack the Spirit Array. Since there was nothing Bing Yun could help with, she decided to come out to continue searching for Yang Kai's whereabouts instead.

"World Source Liquid…" Even Yang Kai's eyes flashed with greed at those words. It was something he had heard of before but never imagined he would ever find; after all, it was a precious treasure that would only form at the birth of the world. Great changes happened over time and nothing ever remained the same. Even if it was formed during the birth of the world, it would have been used up or destroyed a long time ago. On the contrary, the Source Sealed World known as the Profound Heavens Temple was born alongside the world, so it was not impossible for it to preserve some of the things from ancient times.

It was no wonder that Sheng Yu Zhu mentioned that as long as the Pseudo-Great Emperors who participated in the Grand Dao battle survived the experience, they would receive a huge boost in strength even if they failed to become a Great Emperor.

The World Source Liquid was undoubtedly a good thing that could make a person's strength soar without any side effects. It was just that Yang Yan alone might not be able to monopolize a treasure like that. If it were discovered by the Half-Saints, a fierce struggle was inevitable. Even if the other Pseudo-Great Emperors found out about it, there would still be some internal conflict arising from this.

Hence, Yang Kai immediately picked up the pace upon learning that it could be the World Source Liquid and rushed over with Bing Yun.

The place where Yang Yan and Bing Yun had found the pool of World Source Liquid was located in a thick jungle. There were huge towering trees everywhere in the surroundings, but there was only one empty space in its centre. Right in the middle of the jungle was a wooden stump with a diameter of approximately ten metres wide. The wooden stump was hollow in the middle, which formed a pool. That pool was filled with a milky white liquid that was suspected to be World Source Liquid.

Naturally, that was just Yang Yan's guess. She could not be certain what was inside the pool until she passed through the Grand Array after all. Nevertheless, it would surely be useful for a Pseudo-Great Emperor even if it was not World Source Liquid.