Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

At the moment, the only place left in the vast Star Boundary that was not eroded by the Demon Lands was the area stretching out a thousand kilometres around High Heaven Palace in the Northern Territory. The entire Star Boundary army was gathered in this place. In addition, the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan were personally standing guard. This place would be the final battlefield in the war between the Demon Race and the Human Race.

Victory would mean a slim chance of reprieve. On the other hand, defeat would mean eternal doom!

Since the beginning of the Two Worlds' Great War, billions of living creatures in the Star Boundary had lost both their lives and homes. Nine houses out of ten were deserted. It was a scene of desolation across the entire land. Humans who had been reduced to become Demons could be seen wandering all over the Western Territory. Having been devoured by the Demon Essence, they lost their consciousness and were driven only by their instinct to kill.

High Heaven Palace might be big, but it could not accommodate so many. Now that the entire Star Boundary army had gathered in this place, it was practically bursting at the seams. For that reason, many soldiers had no choice but to remain inside the World Beads all the time. Many of the World Beads that Yang Kai had refined were stuffed to the brim as a result.

It might be that High Heaven Palace was the last sanctuary of the Star Boundary. The invincible Demon Essence had eroded all of the Eastern Territory, the Southern Territory, the Western Territory, as well as most of the land in the Northern Territory. However, its progress was finally obstructed along the periphery of a 1,000-kilometre radius around High Heaven Palace. The speed of the erosion became extremely slow until it finally stopped completely, unable to advance any further. There was some kind of force around High Heaven Palace that seemed to block the erosion of the Demon Essence, protecting the last bit of pure land for the Star Boundary's Human Race to inhabit.

Now that the entire Star Boundary had more or less fallen into the hands of the Demon Race, neither the Demon Saints nor the Half-Saints below them could stand to tolerate the special existence that was High Heaven Palace; after all, the Demon Race's plan could only come to completion when High Heaven Palace was fully eroded.

Perhaps, they could feel a sense of crisis looming over them after losing the Grand Dao battle, so the Demon Race army attacked ten days after it ended, three days after the fall of the Eastern Territory.

The Demon Race army that came out in full force formed a large uncountable mass of darkness due to their overwhelming numbers. Pouring out from all the Primary Demon Strongholds, they rushed over to surround High Heaven Palace and launched a full offensive without any warning whatsoever.

The first to attack High Heaven Palace was not the Demon Race army, however, but rather the Humans who were corrupted by Demon Essence and became Demons as a result. The number of these Demons was 10 times or 100 times larger than the entire Demon Race population in the Primary Demon Strongholds. They could be found almost everywhere across the lands of the Four Territories in the Star Boundary. The Demon Race army only needed to gather and herd them around to form an enormous force.

These Demons lacked a clear consciousness and were consumed by their instinct to kill. Driven by the Demon Race army, they rushed towards High Heaven Palace without fear of death. These Demons were generally not very strong and any random soldier from the Star Boundary army could kill a large number of them at once. Nevertheless, there were simply too many of them.

A tragic and fierce battle commenced outside High Heaven Palace.

Despite facing former fellow countrymen, Li Wu Yi had no choice but to harden his heart and issue the order to annihilate the enemy. In just three days, the number of Demons who died outside High Heaven Palace exceeded tens of millions. Rivers of blood flowed and corpses piled high across the land that stretched on for thousands of kilometres. With the death of those Demons, the Demon Qi that leaked out of their body finally infected the land that was originally being protected by the World, allowing the Demon Land around the periphery of High Heaven Palace to begin creeping forward again. The speed of advancement might be slow, but at this rate, there would come a day when even High Heaven Palace could no longer persist.

Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun were furious and rushed out of High Heaven Palace in a rage, heading straight towards the Demon Race army. Although they gave an overwhelming display of power, they were immediately blocked by Xue Li, Fu Yu, and Huo Bo. There was a huge battle and many in the Demon race army lost their lives simply from the fallout, but unfortunately, it changed nothing in the overall situation.

The greying hairs on Li Yu Yi's head increased by the day. He would look up at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace in the sky countless times a day, watching the names flashing across the Giant Furnace and secretly praying that Yang Kai could return as soon as possible.

Ten days after the final battle started, the Demon Land had advanced as far as 500 kilometres into the land surrounding High Heaven Palace. Another five days later, the Demon Land progressed another 300… Now only 200 kilometres of land remained untouched by the Demon Land outside of High Heaven Palace.

As time went on, the Demon Race's offensive became more and more violent. In contrast, the Star Boundary seemed exhausted from resisting. Despair spread out among the armies and the wills of many were on the verge of collapsing under the heavy pressure and all sorts of troubles unfolded within High Heaven Palace. Racked by both external and internal troubles, many Masters were completely overwhelmed by the situation.

…..

At the height of the battle, Yang Kai seemed to be slumbering under the Divine Tree inside the Illusionary Heavens Furnace that was inside the Profound Heavens Temple. After swallowing the Heavenly Source Fruit, he began feeling drowsy and eventually succumbed to it. He only managed to say a few sentences to Yang Yan and the others before he immersed himself into his mind completely.

His mind was in an ethereal state and he could not sense anything in his surroundings. It felt as though he had returned to his mother's womb. He was enveloped by the sense of security and tranquillity of a new life being born.

All of a sudden, he jerked awake for a short moment. He couldn't help wondering about his own Grand Dao. If he had not gone through the previous experience where he was asked about his True Dao, he might not have known what he wanted. But, after that peculiar experience, he knew exactly what he should do at this moment. He had to find his own Dao that would be recognised by the world! And, his Dao was… the Dao of Space!

Bits and pieces of the past lingered in his mind. Some of his insights into the Dao of Space emerged in his mind and he recalled the time when he first caught a glimpse of the door to the Dao of Space. After advancing to the minor accomplishment stage, he properly stepped onto the Dao of Space. Afterward, he became increasingly familiar with Space Principles and suddenly penetrated the depths of this Great Dao…

After taking the first step, he was becoming clearer about his own Dao. The surrounding space shuddered and small cracks appeared on it, like Spirit Snakes that wandered around aimlessly. All his power, including the Demon Qi in his body and his Spiritual Energy, was rapidly shrinking towards a certain spot in his body. There were faint signs that they were forming into a mysterious mark.

A Dao Seal!

Although nobody had ever told him about this, Yang Kai quickly understood what was going on in his body as he experienced the entire process first-hand. Gathering all the Essence in his body and the lifelong insights he had obtained, he condensed them into his very own Dao Seal! This was the only way he could walk his own Dao and create his own Dao.

This was both an extremely dangerous process and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; therefore, Yang Kai did not dare to be careless. He poured his experiences and insights into the embryonic Dao Seal, little by little, gradually tempering and perfecting it.

He did not know how much time had passed or what the situation was like in the world outside. All of his attention was focused on the Dao Seal. A concrete outline slowly began to form around that vague Dao Seal. Following his efforts, the outline became increasingly distinct and clear.

Even so, he was not satisfied. The speed of his progress was far too slow. Although he had forgotten about the crisis that the Star Boundary was currently facing, his subconscious mind was telling him that he had to form his Dao Seal as quickly as possible; otherwise, something that he would regret for the rest of his life was going to happen.

Almost instinctively, Yang Kai took out the World Source Liquid from the Small Sealed World and took a gulp. The feeling of the World when it was first created burst out in him, causing him to shudder involuntarily. Chaos flourished and Principle Strength emerged extremely strong. Therefore, one mouthful of World Source Liquid seemed to pull him back to the ancient era when the World first formed. He stood in the middle of all the chaos as the various invisible forces swirling around him in all directions transformed into the capital and strength that formed his Dao Seal.

Yang Kai devoured this power greedily and the speed at which the Dao Seal in his body condensed suddenly accelerated. The brightly shining Dao Seal erupted with dazzling brilliance, and upon integrating the essence contained within his Dragon Bloodline, the Dao Seal caused his entire body to emit a faint golden light.

…..

Outside High Heaven Palace, the Sect Defending Array flashed wildly. Countless Demons threw themselves forward while at the same time, numerous attacks blasted out from within High Heaven Palace to reap the lives of these Demons as though harvesting straw.

Mountains of corpses and rivers of blood painted the scenery. It was a time of turmoil, it was a time of slaughter, and it was a baptism of fresh blood. The lives of the weak were in the hands of fate, and even the Masters were in danger of losing their lives at any moment. The Heavenly Way was cruel and it was impossible to predict the future of the World!

Li Wu Yi's once black hair turned completely silver in a span of ten short days. Standing at the top of High Heaven Peak, he looked out at the situation beyond the Grand Array with a solemn expression.

Similarly, the expressions of the people behind him were also extremely gloomy. They had been on edge all this while. Their only fear was losing High Heaven Palace, the last barrier and fortress that stood strong in the Star Boundary; however, when it really came down to this moment, a powerful wave of fighting spirit surged up in all of them, regardless of who they were. If they could perish along with their World, fighting for the home where they were born and raised… Their life would not have been lived in vain.

A figure rushed forward suddenly. Ying Fei appeared, wiping the blood from his face, "Reporting! The Grand Array in the northwest is in critical danger. It can only last for another quarter to half hour at most. Sir Fu Ren Jie requests for reinforcements!"

Li Wu Yi looked back at Ying Fei. [What reinforcements? There are no reinforcements…]

In the face of the various emergency situations that arose, all of the armies had already been deployed. At the moment, High Heaven Palace was being attacked from all directions. All the people behind Li Wu Yi were his personal guards and they were only in charge of sending out commands to the soldiers in the field. There were no other soldiers under his command that he could send.

Turning back once more, he coldly said, "Relay my order. If the Grand Array in the northwest cannot be protected, then Fu Ren Jie is to bring as many Demon Race Half-Saints down with him as he can!"

Ying Fei's lips moved and he cupped his fists, "Yes!"

After that, he turned and flew back out.

Li Wu Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace before letting out a long sigh, [In the end, are we still powerless to escape this fate?]

Nevertheless, he soon withdrew his gaze and Space Principles fluctuated around him. With a chilling expression on his face, he asked calmly, "Are you afraid?"

The soldiers following behind him loudly replied to his question, "No!"

Li Wu Yi grinned, "It is terrifying to stand before the gates of death. Even I am scared. Are you really not afraid?"

Several of his personal guards looked apologetic and one of them said, "We have no regrets as long as we can follow you, Sir, not even if we die in battle as a result!"

The rest of them also cupped their fists and shouted in unison, "May we live and die with you, Sir!"

Li Wu Yi burst into laughter as his spirits soared, "Good! That is the right mindset to have!" With a wave of his arm, he continued, "You will follow me into battle! Let us slaughter our enemies!"

An overwhelming murderous intent violently poured out of him.

"S-Sir!" One of the personal guards suddenly shouted in a trembling voice.

Li Wu Yi chuckled, "What is it? Have you gotten cold feet? It's normal to be scared."

"It's not that, Sir! Look, up there!" The soldier raised his finger to point at the sky.

Li Wu Yi looked in that direction and the pupils of his eyes involuntarily contracted at the sight. He was looking at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace that had been floating in the sky all this while. The patterns on the surface of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace were flickering even more than before and the clear and distinct titles that flashed across its surface were changing at a dazzling speed. Soon, a new set of characters began to take shape.

The Illusionary Heavens Furnace had remained in the same state for so many days, never experiencing any changes before; thus, nobody could have expected it to change at this time.

"This is…" Li Wu Yi suddenly widened his eyes and stared at Illusionary Heavens Furnace without blinking. That was because the flickering lines had a tendency to form certain characters. It was just that the lights were flashing too quickly, so it was very hard to get a clear glimpse.

After waiting for a while though, the vague characters finally became clear. The characters suddenly froze in place with a loud bang. At that moment, a dazzling light filled the entire Star Boundary. At that moment, it seemed as though the Demon Qi covering the Star Boundary had been torn apart and at long-last light had returned once more.

Li Wu Yi's eyes narrowed as he stared blankly at the golden characters illuminating the entire world, feeling both extremely shocked and pleased as he muttered under his breath, "Void!"