Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Yang Kai moved quickly around the Star City. His Divine Sense was spread out like a tidal wave. Pushing it outwards with all his might, it extended out like countless large hands that plucked the Space Rings off each dead body and tossed them into the Sealed World Bead.

Yang Kai didn't have the time to probe into them to see what was inside since there were too many, so he could only wait until later before slowly taking inventory.

Half a day later, he had basically swept through the entire destroyed Star City. Just as he was about to return though, he suddenly heard a faint but shrill scream from a certain direction and quickly turned towards it.

That was the direction of the Main Hall where Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master died, and it was undoubtedly Lu Xue's voice he just heard. There were no living beings in the Star City other than him and Lu Xue, so it had to be her.

But an extra life aura had clearly appeared in that direction. Only, the aura gave off a strange feeling and seemed to be radiating Monster Qi.

[A Monster Beast?] Yang Kai frowned. Curious, he used Instantaneous Movement and disappeared from where he stood.

When he reappeared, he was already in the hall. Looking around, he frowned.

There, he saw Lu Xue raised into the air with a figure that was just slightly taller than an average human man in front of her. It was a humanoid monster wearing a short-sleeved animal skin shirt, and its entire body was turquoise in colour. Even though he had a humanoid form, it was definitely not Human.

Its two arms were like sharp scythes and a flat-looking head topped its body that looked just like that of a mantis'.

[What in the world is that?]

Yang Kai had been travelling the world for many years, but he had never seen such a strange being before.

Generally speaking, Monster Beasts were able to take human form after cultivating to a certain extent, and only when their cultivation was lacking would there be Monster Beast traces remaining after they assumed human form.

But the aura of this mantis head was very strong, even greater than that of the Scarlet Flood Dragon and the Earth Dragon. So, how could it still appear to look half Monster, half Human?

Yang Kai assumed that it was due to the Scarlet Flood Dragon and the Earth Dragon's low sentience that they did not assume human form. Without high enough sentience, it was naturally impossible for them to assume human form. Could it be that this mantis head has not fully gained sentience yet?

When he heard the noise, the mantis head turned to look at Yang Kai. His compound eyes revealed a lost look while he scratched his head with his raised scythe arms, appearing slightly puzzled.

His Mistress told him that there was an interesting fellow over here, and asked him to capture him. As soon as he came here and saw Lu Xue, he thought that she was the one, but now another one had appeared. Which one was it?

After carefully distinguishing the aura between Lu Xue and Yang Kai, he was still confused. From what he could sense, Lu Xue was clearly much stronger than Yang Kai, but his instincts told him that Yang Kai was a greater threat to his life than this girl.

After pondering for a while, he suddenly grinned and spoke in a voice similar to metal scraping against metal, "Forget it, I'll just bring them both back."

[This mantis head can speak!?] Lu Xue was taken aback before she turned a pleading gaze towards Yang Kai. Her life was hanging by a thread at this moment and she could very easily be dismembered with just a quick movement from the mantis head, so the only one she could rely on now was Yang Kai. If Yang Kai was willing to save her, then she had hope to live.

But to her disappointment, Yang Kai didn't even look at her. She couldn't help but feel dejected at this, but it did make sense. Yang Kai had just been on a killing spree, aiming to annihilate all of Sword Pavilion. He even ran all the way here to slaughter everyone. Given she was also a member of Sword Pavilion, why would he care whether she lived or died?

"Did you do this?" Yang Kai looked at the mantis head and asked, but he quickly shook his head, "No. You don't have the ability."

"I don't know what you're talking about." With a shake of the mantis head's arm, Lu Xue who was lifted into the air screamed as she was tossed to the side. While walking towards Yang Kai, he lightly rubbed his scythe arms together, producing a hair-raising screech, "Little thing, Mistress told me to capture you alive, so you'd better not resist or you'll regret it."

"Mistress?" Yang Kai raised a brow. He was interested in prying out of this mantis head's mouth who this 'Mistress' was, but with a green flash in front of his eyes, the mantis head had already swiftly made his way over in front of him. A sharp glint entered Yang Kai's eyes as a scythe arm swung down towards his head.

[Fast!]

Yang Kai's pupils shrank. At once, he manipulated Space Principles and teleported 30 metres back.

Even so, the slash ripped open Yang Kai's shirt.

When Yang Kai looked down, he discovered that a slit had been drawn over the new set of clothes he had changed into on the road. Fortunately, he reacted fast enough; otherwise, he would have eaten a loss on the very first move.

"Oh?" The mantis head looked at Yang Kai with his head cocked to the side, his compound eyes turning, seemingly puzzled as he commented, "You're quick!"

"You're not so bad either!" Yang Kai coldly snorted.

"Then let's see who's faster!" The mantis head grinned, revealing two rows of jagged teeth in his mouth. As soon as he finished speaking, his body transformed into a green light that approached Yang Kai as fast as lightning.

Yang Kai took him on seriously. He had his Divine Sense locked onto the mantis head's aura while he circulated his Space Principles, ready to react to his movements.

Suddenly, the hall was filled with gusts of wind and afterimages flickering about.

Lu Xue, who had been thrown to the side, raised her head to see the hall filled with figures of Yang Kai and the mantis head. For a moment, she couldn't tell which were real and which were remnant images.

She couldn't help but feel stunned. It was normally rare to encounter existences as fast as this, and now there were two who seemed evenly matched with each other.

She didn't dare to remain. Neither the mantis head nor Yang Kai paid her any heed, but if she were caught in their fight, then there was no way she could withstand it in her current state.

Forcing her body to move, she stumbled her way to the entrance and ran out.

After running less than a thousand metres, she heard a violent noise from behind her. Turning around, she could see the hall crumble as two figures rose into the air. The violent aftershock threw her several tens of metres away. When she landed on the ground, she even spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Once outside the hall, both Yang Kai and the mantis head seemed to have been freed from some sort of shackle. Like a Dragon into the sea or a Tiger in the mountains, they pushed their speed to its limits at once. In the sky above the crumbling ruins, the two figures flickered back and forth, up and down, chasing each other from one end of the Star City to the other. They occasionally exchanged blows, causing the sky to shake and the earth to crack.

Strictly speaking, Yang Kai was no match for the mantis head in terms of speed. This guy was truly as fast as the wind and lightning. The only way Yang Kai could keep up was by relying on his Space Principles.

Even more terrifyingly, not only was this mantis head extremely fast, but his sword techniques were also incredibly masterful.

The two scythe-like arms were just like natural-born armaments. Wielded by the mantis head, they became peerless blades. At a glance, Yang Kai could tell that this enemy's techniques needed no thought to execute. Each strike was honed and refined to the point of perfection, smoothly flowing while not the slightest bit wasteful.

Yang Kai was actually feeling overwhelmed!

He came feeling invincible after destroying the Sword Pavilion Sword Formation and slaughtering thousands of Thunder Light members. Yang Kai felt that no one in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary was his opponent any longer, but this mantis head actually made him feel pressured, so it was easy to see how terrifying this guy was.

Which cultivator in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary could possibly compete with an existence such as this? Yang Kai estimated that even if Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master came back to life, he still wouldn't be able to do anything to this guy.

Worse, this mantis head was just a henchman, so how terrifying could his Mistress possibly be?

Yang Kai had a faint suspicion that the Mistress this mantis head talked about was the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider! Thinking back to his thoughts of wanting to get his hands on that Heavenly Moon Demon Spider's Monster Core, Yang Kai realized just how ignorant and arrogant he had been.

"Enough!" Yang Kai bellowed and threw his palm out with a violent power that knocked the mantis head away.

In terms of speed, Yang Kai with his Space Principles could barely match his opponents, but nothing good would come from dragging this fight out. It really wasn't a good idea to stay here for long. If the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider decided to come back, then he had no idea whether he would be able to resist or even escape.

This battle had to be decided quickly.

The moment he pushed back the mantis head, Yang Kai had already summoned his Yuan Magnetic Divine Bottle Gourd. With his Divine Sense, he opened the gourd and light poured out of it in an instant, filling the world and enveloping the mantis head.

A bunch of clinks sounded alongside a bunch of sparks. Yang Kai's widened his eyes and he looked ahead in astonishment.

Charging through the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light, the mantis head's speed instantly decreased; however, his momentum was still continuously increasing.

The Yuan Magnetic Divine Light, which devastated both Thunder Light and Sword Pavilion was barely useful against this mantis head. Even though he was instantly covered in injuries, they were very minor and almost negligible.

[This guy... his skin is on par with a Sixth-Order Monster Beast!]

The Monster Beasts of the Outer Universe were also divided into different Orders. Just like the Open Heaven Realm, the Monster Beasts that were below this realm were not included within those divisions.

In other words, there had to be a Sixth-Order Monster Core in this mantis head's body; otherwise, it would be impossible for him to resist the Sixth-Order Yuan Magnetic Divine Light with just his physical body.

Yang Kai's eyes instantly lit up. Even though he had no idea what properties this mantis head's Monster Core had, anything at the Sixth Order was still going to be a treasure.

The mantis head was not injured much, but he was apparently greatly angered by Yang Kai's move. He felt that this Human was both despicable and shameless. Even though they were obviously competing with speed, he suddenly came up with another technique, which made him feel deeply insulted. He began to shout, "You little thing, you made this Senior Mantis very angry! This Senior Mantis has decided to eat one of your arms and legs!"

Losing an arm and a leg wouldn't kill this Human, and his Mistress told him to capture him alive but didn't say anything about bringing him back whole. In other words, ripping off a couple limbs wouldn't be going against his Mistress' orders.

As the mantis head shouted, his scythes danced around and cut off the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light that was gushing his way before he pounced to within 30 metres of Yang Kai.

Yang Kai wore a grim expression. He knew that the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light was not going to be of any use against this guy.

Even though the Yuan Magnetic Divine Bottle Gourd was a powerful weapon, it could be resisted by anyone in the Sixth Order or above, where its effects would be limited.

This artifact was suitable for large-scale battles where its might could be shown fully, such as the previous battle with Thunder Light and Sword Pavilion.

Currently, the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light wasn't working and Yang Kai could not use his Golden Crow Casts the Sun Manifestation for some time. When he broke Sword Pavilion's Sword Formation, Yang Kai's Dao Seal was shaken and needed time to stabilize, so unless it was a life or death situation, it was better not to use his Divine Manifestation for the time being.

And, when facing an opponent like this mantis head, the only way to win was to face him head-on.