Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

There was a loud rumbling and energy ran wild, causing the layers upon layers of protection that seemed fairly sturdy to shatter apart like paper in a single blow. It was followed by a muffled groan as a figure was sent flying backward. That person was completely covered in blood and his aura was weak.

Luo Meng reached out to catch that person, and when he looked down at the person in his arms, his heart sank.

At this moment, the man surnamed Zhou's Emperor Qi was fluctuating erratically. His complexion was as pale as a sheet and his body was covered in injuries. It was obvious that he was severely injured. That did not come as a surprise, however, as so many Half-Saints had attacked him all at once. Even Li Wu Yi could not have defended against that barrage of attacks, much less this man surnamed Zhou who had been completely focused on the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. In his haste, the ability to deploy those layers of protection had been his limit. Luckily, the layers of protection had not been useless and had ultimately saved his life. Nevertheless, suffering such severe injuries at this stage was equivalent to losing his qualification to compete in the Grand Dao battle.

"Brother Luo…" The man surnamed Zhou opened his mouth and spat out another mouthful of fresh blood, his expression became more worn out than ever. His eyes were filled with remorse and regret. After a lifetime of cultivation, he finally reached this step only to fall short at the last moment. How could he willingly accept something like that? He deeply regretted putting his neck on the line to be first, but who could have imagined that so many people had arrived in this place?

"Brother Luo, please go on ahead. This Zhou will need to treat his injuries first." He managed to speak with some difficulty and turned his head to look at Illusionary Heavens Furnace.

From the looks of it, another Pseudo-Great Emperor from the Star Boundary was already rushing towards the Illusionary Heavens Furnace with a fired-up expression on his face. He lunged forward at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace with a slight shift of his body.

However, he was blocked by an invisible force before he could even get close. It was as though there was an invisible barrier around the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. As long as the barrier was not broken, nobody could even think about approaching the furnace.

There was a slight moment of delay, then a storm of attacks rained down again. That person's expression changed drastically and he hurriedly dodged out of the way, but was still struck by some of the attacks. Blood immediately stained the sky.

More people rushed at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace only to be blocked by that invisible barrier. There were no exceptions. Meanwhile, the Demon Race Half-Saints attacked fiercely. They were ignoring the huge opportunity contained in the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, choosing to go on the offensive against the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary instead.

One side was scattered and chaotic while the other side had come prepared; therefore, the result was easy to imagine.

It only took an instant for the Star Boundary to suffer a devastating loss. In just 10 breaths, one of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary had already died tragically on the spot.

After several more defeats, the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary stopped approaching the Illusionary Heavens Furnace so rashly. Everybody could understand the situation by now. Although the Illusionary Heavens Furnace had revealed itself, it would seem that it was not time for the final moment yet. Trying to snatch for the opportunity at this moment was meaningless, so they might as well take this opportunity to get rid of their competitors instead.

A chaotic melee then broke out. Lights flickered throughout the huge hall as the powers of both Emperor Artifacts and Demon Artifacts were unleashed. The explosions that rang out were deafening and endless.

Screams would ring out from time to time. In this battlefield where only Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints stood, any trace of negligence would become a fatal flaw. Both sides suffered casualties as the battle continued to rage. Body after body fell out of the sky and their vital essence would vanish without a trace before they could even touch the ground, essentially turning them into mummified corpses.

On the other hand, the rotation speed of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace standing in the centre of the hall seemed to have increased slightly. The pure World Energy that filled the inside of the Giant Furnace was also gradually strengthening. It was expanding and contracting rhythmically, as if something was about to break out of the cauldron

While the Pseudo-Great Emperors and the Half-Saints were engaged in battle inside the hall, Yang Kai was standing in a seemingly infinite void. He had gotten separated from Yang Yan and the others without him noticing only to appear directly in this strange space.

Even so, he did not panic as he did not sense any danger in this place. Rather, he felt a sense of security and tranquillity that was reminiscent of returning home after a long journey. This feeling was rather fascinating and it tempted him to stay forever, just sinking into this comfortable silence.

The moment that thought formed in his head though, he felt a cool sensation washing over his mind that woke him up instantly. That was naturally the work of the Soul Warming Lotus. It was important to note that the Soul Warming Lotus, which was a Supreme Treasure, would only react in that way when his Soul was being influenced by an outside force.

Yang Kai was stunned as he had thought he was already being vigilant enough, so he was shocked to learn that he still nearly became bewitched by something. Not to mention, there was nothing in this strange space whatsoever. Just being in this place gave him such dangerous thoughts.

[What the Hell is this damned place!"]

In his confusion, a loud bell-like voice suddenly sounded in his mind, "What is the World?"

"Who are you?" Yang Kai shouted loudly. Turning to look around him, he found nothing in his vicinity. There was nothing in this place except for him, so how could anybody else be here? He couldn't help frowning in response, but upon further consideration, he realised that the sound did not seem to have come from the outside, but rather from within his body.

"What is the World?" The voice sounded again.

Wary, Yang Kai quickly asked, "Who is sneaking around!?"

There was no reply. After waiting for a while, the voice came again. It was still the same question as before, "What is the World?"

This attitude that indicated the other party would not give up until they obtained the answers they wanted gave Yang Kai a headache. If it were a tangible enemy, he could have created a huge commotion to see if he could escape his current predicament; however, there was nothing he could do when even the source of that voice was unclear.

After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai answered loudly, "The World gives birth to everything and nourishes all life. Everything in the World exists in accordance with the World. The World attains spirituality from everything, and everything in turn constitutes the World."

After saying that, Yang Kai looked around attentively. He waited for a long time, but the voice did not sound again so he raised his brow slightly and thought to himself, [Is that a pass?]

That thought had only just flashed through his mind when the voice sounded again. It was still as sonorous as ever and so loud that it shook the eardrums and the mind, "What is the Dao?"

With the experience from before, Yang Kai did not try to engage with that voice and simply answered, "The Dao is the law, the way of things, eternity itself, the source of everything in the World."

"What is the Dao?" This time around, the voice sounded again without pause.

Yang Kai frowned. [Was that the wrong answer?]

"The Dao is grief, sorrow, and joy. The Dao is birth, old age, sickness, and death. The Dao is fate. The Dao is returning after achieving success. One follows the Earth, Earth follows the Heavens, the Heavens follow the Dao, and the Dao follows nature!"

"What is the Dao?"

"The heart is the Dao!"

"What is the Dao?"

"The Dao is the road under our feet. The beginning and end. Everything from the trees to the grains of sand have their own Dao. This Dao is their destiny, existence, their way!"

"What is the Dao?"

…..

At the beginning, Yang Kai needed to ponder for a while before coming up with an answer; however, his answers flowed out with increasing speed as the voice continued to question him non-stop. It was as though it was not somebody else who was asking him the question but his own heart!

With every sentence that Yang Kai uttered, the feeling that he could finally see the bright moon through a layer of fog began to sprout in his heart. All the thoughts in his heart seemed to become clear all of a sudden and he felt extremely refreshed.

"What is the Dao?"

Yang Kai lowered his heart and grinned to himself, "What is the Dao?"

Pausing for a moment, his relaxed gaze slowly became firm and determined, "Stop asking! If you keep on nagging like this, then I say I am the Dao!"

*Hong…*

It felt as though something inside his body had exploded. The surrounding space shattered like a mirror, peeling off piece by piece. The fog in front of him vanished in an instant, and he suddenly appeared inside a hall. Before he could check out his surroundings, however, he felt numerous gazes locking onto him from all directions.

Turning around to look, Yang Kai broke out into a grin and whistled, "Heh! There's a lot of people here!"

There were clearly two groups of people in the hall. One side was composed of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary while the other was composed of the Half-Saints from the Demon Realm. There were about ten or so people from each camp, but there were a few more Half-Saints compared to the people from the Star Boundary.

It was just that most of these Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints were injured to some extent at this moment. Yang Kai also saw Jia Long among the Demon Race Half-Saints. Jia Long had a huge and hideous wound on his chest, which illustrated how brutal the struggle he went through just now was.

In addition to these two groups of people, there were also many mummified corpses scattered across the hall. Judging from the clothes of the mummified corpses, both the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary and Half-Saints from the Demon Realm were among the dead. There were as many as 20 or 30 corpses in total.

When the Profound Heavens Temple opened, a total of 70 entered this place. Among those 70, 30 were Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary while the remaining 40 were the Demon Race Half-Saints! Including the Masters who died outside the Profound Heavens Temple, then all those who were still alive and had the power to fight at this moment were gathered in this place.

The Grand Dao battle was finally showing its fangs. It had only been a little more than a month since the Profound Heavens Temple opened, but in this short time, the number of Masters from the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm who died numbered as many as 40 or 50. Something like this would have been unimaginable in the past, but death had become commonplace in the Profound Heavens Temple.

"Yang Kai, are you alright!?" Yang Yan called out. She had felt both surprised and delighted when she first saw Yang Kai. Although she could tell that he was in good shape, she couldn't help worrying about whether he had encountered any accidents.

Yang Kai shook his head, "I'm fine."

In fact, he wasn't just fine, he felt surprisingly refreshed after going through that strange experience just now. It felt as though something had relaxed inside his body.

Turning his gaze to the side, he met the concerned gazes of both Yang Yan and Bing Yun. That wasn't all, he also saw Sheng Yu Zhu among the crowd. When their eyes met, Sheng Yu Zhu gave him a small smile to which he nodded back in return.

His gaze continued to sweep across the crowd, and when he saw a certain person, his expression immediately turned cold and his murderous intent surged, "Old dog Cang Mo! How dare you show yourself here!"

Similarly, Cang Mo's expression was filled with hatred when he looked at Yang Kai; even so, he remained silent in the face of Yang Kai's cursing. That was because he knew exactly what he had done. Arguing with Yang Kai at this time would only expose that fact. If that happened, there would be no place left for him in the Star Boundary.

Many Pseudo-Great Emperors frowned upon hearing Yang Kai's shout. They all knew that Yang Kai had a grudge against Cang Mo, but that was nothing more than a personal grudge. Nobody knew why Yang Kai was suddenly causing a commotion at this time.

Yang Yan sent a Divine Sense transmission to Yang Kai at that moment, "We can discuss the matter regarding Cang Mo when we get back. Our priority is to deal with the immediate situation."

Yang Kai gently nodded at those words. With a flicker of his body, he headed towards the people of the Star Boundary. He really wanted to take this opportunity to kill Cang Mo, but he would only embarrass the entire Star Boundary in front of the Demon Race if he made a move. It might even break this eerie calm that had settled over the hall.