Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

After eating a loss from the purple bamboo, the grape wailed. Seeing this, Little Mushroom tried to intervene, but was also smacked by the bamboo and rolled back many times from the impact, causing her invisible spores to fly out. The cultivators around the area all fell into a daze as an illusion formed before their eyes.

Little Mushroom pouted, "Smelly bamboo, how dare you hit me! I'll fight you!"

Lowering her head, she charged at him, but was beaten back by her opponent and landed on her butt. Tears flowing, she wailed miserably.

The grape was furious, "You dare bully Little Mushroom? I'll fight you too!"

Root tendrils danced and flew as if he had grown countless arms, wrestling with the bamboo as if he really meant to fight him to the death.

The black-robed youth's figure swayed and his eyes seemed slightly confused before he shook his head and muttered, "An illusion?"

Reaching out, he brought the bamboo back into his hands. An elegant purple light dispersed from the purple bamboo that enveloped the youth, forming a shapeless barrier that allowed the black-robed youth to regain his senses.

Looking over, all of the cultivators around them had become confused. It was clear that they had no idea they had fallen into an illusion. Some cultivators were laughing, while some were flying around. Seeing this gave him goosebumps.

The bamboo spoke up, "Don't be afraid, boy. With this Lord Bamboo here, Little Mushroom's illusions can't do anything to you!"

The black-robed youth nodded.

Yang Kai had also caught Pu Bai Xiong and Little Mushroom again, placing them back onto his left and right shoulders. Looking at the youth with interest, he asked, "How should I address you?"

The youth was taken aback for a moment before cupping his fists, "Xiang Ying greets Senior Brother Yang!"

Yang Kai raised a brow, "You know me?"

Xiang Ying answered, "Senior Brother Yang's name is famous, resounding like thunder in one's ears."

"Infamous, you mean?" Yang Kai smirked.

Xiang Ying frowned. He did not understand what Yang Kai was trying to get at. Indeed, it was true that he had heard about Yang Kai's vicious reputation, wiping out thousands in the fight with Thunder Light and Sword Pavilion, tens of thousands even at Sword Pavilion's Star City. He was nicknamed the Killing Star that had descended upon this world, but now that Xiang Ying had seen him in person, he realized that there was some difference between the real him and the rumours.

However, he was not familiar with Yang Kai and did not dare to jump to conclusions, so he still put up his guard in front of Yang Kai.

"I am hoping to get the Tai Yi Soul Cleansing Water. What do you say about that, Brother Xiang?" Yang Kai cocked his head to the side as he looked at him.

Even though there were many people here already, they were all caught in an illusion and stuck in a confused state, so they were nothing to be worried about. The only ones with a clear head now were Yang Kai and Xiang Ying.

Xiang Ying said indifferently, "Each according to his own means!"

Obviously, he was unwilling to back down as the Tai Yi Soul Cleansing Water was also a very attractive treasure in his eyes.

Yang Kai nodded. Staring at the purple bamboo in his hands, he changed the subject, "Brother Xiang's bamboo is extraordinary. Would you be willing to part with it?"

Before Xiang Ying could even answer, the bamboo burst out in fury, "Don't try and have any funny thoughts with this Lord Bamboo! Birds of a feather flock together. If you're with that dead grape, then you must be a no-do-gooder as well!"

Yang Kai was taken aback for a moment before laughing, "I guess we don't share any fate then."

He was just asking a casual question, and since the bamboo was unwilling, Yang Kai did not want to force him either. If he really wanted to snatch him away, then this Xiang Ying was most likely not his opponent.

Tossing the matter to the back of his mind, Yang Kai walked forward.

The grape said nervously, "Be careful, Sir! There are strange things about this place..."

Yang Kai smiled, "It is naturally impossible to move without caution in a place where such a treasure has formed. Even if the path is laced with all kinds of dangers though, I just have to break through them!"

At the end of the sentence, both he and Xiang Ying leapt forward.

The moment their bodies moved, both parties thrust their palms out at each other, resulting in a loud boom. Yang Kai's body shook and he made a surprised hum. Though Xiang Ying was forced back three steps, he was not sent flying.

"Impressive!" Yang Kai praised.

Even though their contact was brief, Yang Kai could still see that this Xiang Ying was quite extraordinary. The Element Powers lingering around his palm during their exchange were all Sixth-Order.

In other words, what Xiang Ying refined were all Sixth-Order Open Heaven materials!

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to take a palm from him!

Yang Kai raised a brow, "Is Brother Xiang a senior disciple of a Cave-Heaven or Paradise?" As far as he knew, only those guys from the Cave-Heavens or Paradises had the ability to refine materials of the Sixth Order.

Xiang Ying stabilized himself and suppressed the tumbling vitality in his heart, praising in admiration, "Truly, seeing something once is better than hearing of them a hundred times. Senior Brother Yang is as amazing as they say. Junior Brother comes from a humble background. Not from any Cave-Heaven nor Paradise!"

Yang Kai's eyes lit up, "I see!"

This Xiang Ying was clearly also a Bearer. Only by the might of a Divine Spirit could such an outstanding Bearer be nurtured. Only, Yang Kai had no idea which Divine Spirit Xiang Ying was the Bearer of.

He had heard Zhu Jiu Yin say that many Divine Spirits had been raising their own Bearers in secret, making them cultivate hard over the years to enhance their strength just so they could fight for the opportunity for their sakes in the Primordial Land. So far, Yang Kai knew only of Xu Zhen and his group. He never expected to bump into another one here.

It was no wonder he was able to collect that purple bamboo. Since Xiang Ying was the Bearer of a Divine Spirit, he naturally had that ability.

While talking, Yang Kai kept his pace and was soon approaching the white jade trough.

Xiang Ying's face changed slightly when he saw this. Suddenly, a layer of blood mist erupted around his body. It was apparent that he had performed some sort of Secret Technique. His speed increased greatly, and he also lunged for the white jade trough.

They were the only two fighting for the Tai Yi Soul Cleansing Water now. Whoever reached the trough first would get the first chance at it, so he naturally did not want to fall behind.

But soon, Xiang Ying revealed a stunned expression. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get even a little closer to the white jade trough after approaching a certain distance.

Looking next to him, Yang Kai was also showing a stunned expression.

The white jade trough was not that far from their location, only three hundred metres or so. With their abilities, this distance was almost non-existent. They could easily reach it in just one step.

But strangely enough, they could not advance a single hair closer to the white jade trough no matter how they ran. The stone trough remained at the same distance all this while.

Xiang Ying's face had turned grave, and a layer of sweat had appeared on his forehead. This was a strange situation that he had never encountered before.

Again, he tried dashing forward when all of a sudden, more people appeared around him inexplicably. These people were nowhere to be seen before, but they had appeared just like ghosts. Each one of them were desperately rushing towards the white jade trough, but unfortunately, they were all powerless to do so.

Yang Kai and Xiang Ying were both shocked. What was going on with these people and where did they come from? These people were definitely not the ones who were caught in the illusion earlier, because those people were still in a confused state of mind behind them.

"And here we have two more!" An old man guffawed.

"We're finished! We're not getting out of here today! I was wondering how there could possibly be no danger around such a precious treasure, but it turns out the danger was hidden under our noses this whole time, impossible to discover without landing oneself into it." Another middle-aged man stuck in the same place shook his head and sighed with a defeated look on his face.

"What kind of damned place is this? I want to get out of here!" There were even people running in the opposite direction, but they were unable to escape. There seemed to be an invisible cage surrounding the white jade trough, trapping everyone in it in a thousand-metre radius, keeping them from moving even a step no matter which direction they ran.

Yang Kai stopped and looked around for a while before asking, "Little Mushroom, is this an illusion?"

Little Mushroom's head shook like a rattle drum, "I don't feel anything."

The Profound Multi-Coloured Illusionary Mushroom itself had unparalleled illusory abilities, so if she said so, then it must be true that this was no illusion. What was more, Yang Kai himself did not detect any traces of an illusion. If it were an illusion, then his Soul Warming Lotus would at least warn him of its presence.

"Not an illusion… then…" Yang Kai frowned. Turning to a person a short distance away from him, he asked, "Old Sir, how long have you been here?"

This was the same old man that first spoke. He smiled and sighed, "Haiz… I've been stuck here for three days. This Old Master was the first to come in, and these guys fell into the same trap one after another during the past couple days."

Yang Kai was speechless. There were at least a hundred cultivators stuck in this place. In other words, these hundreds of people had discovered the Tai Yi Soul Cleansing Water during the past three days and were eager to bring it into their possession. As a result, they fell into such a trap, unable to extricate themselves. He and Xiang Ying were the latest ones to enter, and the reason they did not notice these people before was most likely that they had not entered the invisible trap completely.

Only once they stepped into this place would they see the others here.

"Old Sir, have you been able to find any clues as to what is happening?" Yang Kai asked again.

The old man sighed, "If this Old Master did find anything, then how could he still be trapped here?" He shouted towards the sky, "None of you are getting out of here, none of you! This Old Master has been running at full speed here for three days and hasn't been able to move a single step! How much longer will you run?"

Upon hearing this, everyone gradually stopped.

Someone spoke up, "What is going on with this place? It feels like we're moving forward, but why are we still stuck where we are?"

Nobody could understand it, which was why this situation felt so strange.

"There might be a Natural Spirit Array here, an Illusion Array, or even a Bewildering Array. Without breaking the Array, we will be trapped here forever!"

"How are we supposed to break it? Is there anyone proficient in Spirit Arrays among you?"

"This Little Brother knows a thing or two. Only, I can't make heads or tails of this array. Maybe I'm not proficient enough yet."

"Then what should we do? We're not just going to wait and die here, are we?"

The group of people exchanged opinions noisily, discussing with great liveliness.

The old man tried his best to calm everyone down, and it was only with great difficulty that he managed to silence everyone again. He then said aloud, "Since there is no one here that can crack this Array, then this Old Master thinks that we should break it with force. If we act together and unleash our full strengths, then this Old Master does not believe that this damn Array will be able to hold on!"

"Old Sir has a point!" Someone agreed, "With so many of us working together, we will surely be able to break the Array if there truly is one."

"Once the array is broken, then everyone will get a share of Tai Yi Soul Cleansing Water. Let's share it equally!" Someone shouted.

However, no one paid him any attention, leaving him to make a fool of himself.