Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

The large net was tough and obviously made of very precious materials, and it was being activated by a battle formation formed by over a hundred people, so the power was truly extraordinary. They were actually able to trap the bottle gourd at the centre and make it so that it was temporarily trapped no matter which direction it tried to escape in.

The short man's face darkened. He obviously did not expect the men from Emperor Heaven to be so hard to deal with.

Yang Kai also could not help but see them in a new light. He had always thought that Emperor Heaven was a group of loose sand; but now, it seemed like Ding Yi had some skill to work this rag-tag group of individuals into a relatively cohesive force.

Several more battle formations came over and rushed at the short man like a torrent, while the short man only had two bottle gourds left of the Earth and Wood Elements respectively.

However, he was still unfazed by his situation. He waited until he was about to be swallowed up by the torrent before forming hand seals. Then, with a yell, a khaki-coloured light suddenly emerged from the body of the Earth Element bottle gourd, enveloping the short man to form a barrier that was even more solid than Da Wa's Stainless Golden Body.

The Earth Element was mainly a defensive attribute, just like the Earth Element Power that Yang Kai condensed, which allowed him to use the Dragon Shield Secret Technique, so it was not surprising that it had such might.

With a rumble, the attacks came one by one, but the light barrier blocked all of them.

The remaining Wood bottle gourd spun and drilled into the ground. Following that, the earth cracked apart and one by one, roots came up like Earth Dragons, stretching out below the surface, causing it to shake and crack.

*Sou sou sou sou..,*

One by one, the roots came out of the ground and penetrated one battle formation after another, causing great damage to Emperor Heaven in an instant.

There was still the Water bottle gourd and the Fire bottle gourd that performed another Water and Fire explosion technique, as well as the two Yin-Yang bottle gourds that shuttled through the air like giant shears, harvesting the lives of the cultivators.

With the help of the gourd vine and the seven small bottle gourds hanging off of it, the short man engaged in a fiery battle with Emperor Heaven.

Yang Kai was amazed at the power of this gourd vine as it was much stronger than he had expected. This was definitely the strongest Divine Medicine he had seen so far in a fight. Even Grape and Little Mushroom could not help but feel envious of the short man's luck to be able to obtain such a Divine Medicine.

"What a shame. This guy's luck is good, and his strength is also not bad, but it's a pity that he bumped into Emperor Heaven," Xu Zhen sighed at the side.

Yang Kai nodded in agreement. Even though the short man was performing amazingly, in the end, he was alone while Emperor Heaven had the strength of many. If this fight went on, sooner or later, he would lose.

The critical point now was how long that Earth bottle gourd could protect him.

As expected, in just thirty breaths of time, the Earth bottle gourd suddenly grunted with a flushed face, "I can't hold on anymore!"

Its protection was now shaking and on the verge of collapse as it had sustained too much damage. Even though it was a barrier created from a Fifth-Order Earth Element Power, it was still unable to resist such endless impacts.

The short man's face sank slightly.

Ding Yi suddenly shouted, "I've been waiting for this moment!"

He had been watching from the side without involving himself in the battle, remaining indifferent even when his subordinates died or were injured. He was obviously waiting for an opening to end things once and for all.

And now was the time for him to act.

As an incomparably hot power was released from his ghost-headed sabre, Ding Yi raised his blade and chopped it down fiercely with a cold and determined look!

The moment Ding Yi made his move, both Yang Kai and Xu Zhen could not help but let out a startled cry as they looked up at him, because the scorching power was something extraordinary.

Xu Zhen exclaimed, "Seventh-Order Fire Element Power!"

[This Ding Yi actually managed to condense a Seventh-Order Fire Element!]

A curious look flashed across Yang Kai's eyes, but then realization dawned on him!

If one wanted to gather a Seventh-Order Element Power here in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, there were two options, be extraordinarily lucky, or borrow the power of a Divine Spirit! Zhu Jiu Yin told Yang Kai that it was true that many Seventh-Order treasures used to exist in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, but they had long since been depleted. Yang Kai could not even find a single Seventh-Order Metal Element material. Even when Zhu Jiu Yin commanded over a million of her subordinates to scour every corner of the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, she still came up empty.

However, it was not impossible to condense Seventh-Order Element Powers without a Seventh-Order treasure. The Monster Cores that existed inside of the Divine Spirits' bodies were all of the Seventh Order at the very least.

For Ding Yi to use a Fire Element Power of the Seventh Order obviously meant that he had received the help of a Divine Spirit. In other words, this guy was also a Bearer who had borrowed the power of a Divine Spirit's Monster Core in order to condense this Seventh-Order Fire Element Power!

However, this was no surprise. The Divine Spirits would naturally seek out cultivators with great aptitude and potential to become their Bearers. Ding Yi was a nobody before entering the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, but he had since become a shining figure that founded Emperor Heaven.

It was only natural that one or two Divine Spirits would have their eye on him with the way he roamed the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary with his resounding reputation.

And, if he were able to condense the Fire Element Power, that had to mean that his Divine Spirit was of the Fire Attribute. Yang Kai had seen at least fifty Divine Spirits when they were all gathered outside of the Primordial Land, but those who were purely of the Fire Attribute were few. Still, he had no idea which one of them was Ding Yi's Divine Spirit backer.

As he pondered, the ghost-headed sabre in Ding Yi's hand glowed brightly. With a cry, a one-legged fire bird flew out from his sabre with a wingspan of a thousand meters and swooped down at a man with might that could seemingly burn the world.

"Bi Fang!" Yang Kai and Xu Zhen gasped in unison.

Everything was now clear. Ding Yi was Bi Fang's Bearer. Bi Fang was a Fire Attribute Divine Spirit, so there was no problem for it to offer some of the power of its Monster Core to help Ding Yi condense a Seventh-Order Fire Element.

Still, Ding Yi was quite impressive. It was obvious that he had a solid foundation and strong heritage to be able to withstand the impact of a Seventh-Order Fire Element Power in his Dao Seal; otherwise, he would not be able to achieve such a thing even with Bi Fang's help.

Rising stars were all showing off their extraordinary talents in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary. In fact, every time the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary opened, countless Masters from the younger generation would rise up, and in the future, they would all grow to become powerhouses whose names could shake the 3,000 Worlds.

Bi Fang's fire was of the Seventh Order, while the Earth bottle gourd's power was only of the Fifth Order, so it was impossible for it to stop Ding Yi's furious strike. The great Bi Fang only had to touch the Earth Element Barrier to shatter it with a loud rumble. The Earth bottle gourd fell to his butt and his eyes were listless as if he had been scared silly.

Seeing that he was about to be killed by this slash, the short man suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it out.

"Courting death!" Ding Yi laughed, seemingly thinking that it was all over.

However, his laughter stopped abruptly.

A golden light erupted from the short man's fist as a dense Metal Element Power burst out. It was of the Seventh Order as well. The golden light transformed into a huge exotic beast that slammed straight into the fiery Bi Fang.

"Jin Wu!" Xu Zhen's eyes widened.

A cold light flashed across Yang Kai's eyes at that moment as he too recognized the origin of this exotic beast.

This was the image of the Divine Spirit, Jin Wu. When Yang Kai was being brought here to the Primordial Land by Zhu Jiu Yin, they were chased by Jin Wu and four other Divine Spirits, making it so that both he and Zhu Jiu Yin had to expend a lot of effort just to arrive alive.

It was unknown what sort of grudge existed between Jin Wu and Zhu Jiu Yin, but Jin Wu was the one who led the chase.

[So this short man is the Bearer that Jin Wu chose?]

Prior to this, Yang Kai had known that many Bearers were hiding their identities; after all, they were going to be participating in the Spirit Seizing War, so it was beneficial for them to remain anonymous for as long as possible. Other than a few Bearers whose identities were openly known, most of the Bearers were hiding under the water's surface.

Since entering the Primordial Land, Yang Kai had already encountered several such lurkers.

Xiang Ying was one, Ding Yi was one, Fan Yue was one, and now, this short man in front of him was also one...

And these were merely the ones he encountered personally. What about the ones he had not met? Each one of these Bearers had been vigorously cultivated by the Divine Spirits behind them, and they all had their own heritage, which was clear to see just by watching the fight in front of them now. The Spirit Seizing War was destined to be a fierce struggle between evenly matched opponents!

Whether it be Jin Wu or Bi Fang, these were both veteran Divine Spirits who had been alive for countless years; thus they spared no effort in nurturing their chosen Bearers, even going so far as to consume the power inside of their own Monster Cores to help them condense one of the Five Elements.

The two Divine Spirits were similar in strength, causing Ding Yi and the short man to be evenly matched as well. In front of everyone's eyes, the giant Jin Wu and Bi Fang met in mid-air. Their calls were unceasing and the golden light and the fiery light blended together to create a terrifying shockwave that spread outwards. Emperor Heaven's crowd of people were all thrown off their feet while even the thousands of spectators were forced back from the fallout.

Ding Yi grunted and his face paled slightly. It was clear that the attack he performed caused a considerable amount of stress on his own body. The short man was also forced back several steps. One of his feet dug into the ground, and the ground beneath him cracked apart like a turtle shell, leaving a dense pattern like a spiderweb with him as its centre.

The moment he stabilized himself, the short man glared at Ding Yi and formed seals with his hand before pointing a finger out.

A great sense of crisis descended upon Ding Yi at that instant.

Ding Yi's face changed dramatically as even though his aptitude was not bad, it was far from enough to withstand a Seventh-Order Fire Element Power. In order to give him a fighting chance at obtaining the Innate Spirit Fruit, Bi Fang had used a Secret Technique to forcefully condense the Seventh-Order Fire Element Power into his body using its Monster Core's power.

That caused Ding Yi's Dao Seal to destabilize, and the Seventh-Order Fire Element Power was constantly encroaching upon him. If he were not using the Fire Element Power actively, then he could still barely control it, but once he used it, his Dao Seal would be shaken, and his strength would be greatly reduced for about an hour.

Bi Fang's move was like pulling a seedling up to help it grow, but for a Divine Spirit, all they cared about was getting their hands on the Innate Spirit Fruit that could free them from their cage. As for whether Ding Yi lived or died in the future, that had nothing to do with him.

This was what many Divine Spirits were like.

The short man struck at the perfect opportunity, when Ding Yi's mind was shaken. How could Ding Yi find the power to resist if he were putting all his effort into maintaining his Dao Seal's integrity?

A large awl materialized and spun through the air as it dove straight for the centre of Ding Yi's brow.

"My destined end has come!" Ding Yi cried out with an unwilling look on his face.

As the large awl was about to bore right through his skull though, a strange power enveloped him, and all of a sudden, Ding Yi's vision changed. The space around him seemed to fluctuate, and then the large awl disappeared without a trace.

When he looked around again, he found himself in a different place than before. He had inexplicably moved several dozens of metres away, and it was this bizarre movement that allowed him to escape disaster.