Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Yang Kai understood the situation.

All the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who participated in the Dao Theory Assembly this time around had broken through to that realm within the last 100 years. It had only been a few years since Ning Dao Ran himself advanced into the Open Heaven Realm, so how could he be a match for the veteran Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of Prison League? Injuries were inevitable if he were to encounter them.

“The Prison League has become very powerful under the leadership of its League Master, Yellow Spring Heavenly Monarch. He has seven Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters under his command and hundreds of criminals moving in unity. There is no place for participating cultivators like us wherever we go.” Ning Dao Ran shook his head with a sigh. Before participating in the Dao Theory Assembly, nobody could have expected a situation like this to take place on the Prison Star.

With eight Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and hundreds of criminals moving as one in Prison League, the participating cultivators stood no chance at all. Death was the only fate waiting for the participating cultivators following an encounter with the Prison League.

“Prison League is acting so overbearing?” Yang Kai was secretly shocked by Huang Quan’s boldness.

When the Prison League was first established, they had fortified themselves in Yellow Spring Cave in an effort to huddle together to stay warm, but now they had decided to come out with a bang. How could the participating cultivators resist them under these circumstances? It would not take long before the participating cultivators were wiped out completely.

Ning Dao Ran had accidentally exposed his whereabouts and was pursued by several Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters as a result; thankfully, he was one of the Core Disciples of Free and Unfettered Paradise, so he had many artifacts to protect himself and help him escape. Otherwise, he could not have survived long enough for him to meet Yang Kai.

“Now that the Prison Star criminals have rallied together, the participating cultivators have also done the same. If we don’t join forces, we will be completely powerless to resist and survive for the remaining three months of the Dao Theory Assembly.” Ning Dao Ran smiled wryly and continued, “I have received news that Lin Feng and several other Fellow Brothers have gathered together and are preparing to deal with the Prison League. Junior Brother Yang, why don’t you come with me? The greater our numbers, the greater our strength.”

Yang Kai frowned slightly. After pondering for a while, he slowly shook his head, “No. I…”

Before he could finish his sentence though, a violent force suddenly came from above. There was a series of rumblings as the ground cracked open and their hiding place collapsed around them. A cold sneer rang out, “Let’s see how much longer you can continue hiding!”

*Shua Shua Shua…*

Amidst the falling dirt, several figures rose into the sky. Yang Kai carried Lu Jing while Hui Gu and Ning Dao Ran stood beside him. Looking around, his expression changed slightly. Unbeknownst to him, the people of the Prison League had surrounded this place at some point. There were eight figures around them, forming a tight encirclement.

Yang Kai’s expression turned grim as it was only at this moment that he realised that Ning Dao Ran’s whereabouts had long been exposed. Flying past their head earlier was only to buy some time and numb Ning Dao Ran’s sense of danger.

Judging by the current situation, it was just as Ning Dao Ran had mentioned earlier. The Prison League was moving in unity; otherwise, it was impossible for eight Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of Prison League to appear in this place all at once.

“It’s you!” Firm Gold Heavenly Monarch’s eyes widened.

On the other hand, Blue Flame Heavenly Monarch, Cang Yan, shouted, “This is bad! Quickly form a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Formation!”

They never imagined that Yang Kai would appear here. They assumed that Ning Dao Ran had been alone, but it was too late to set up a Formation by the time they realised their mistake.

Before they could complete the Formation, Yang Kai had already urged his Space Principles to wrap around Ning Dao Ran, Hui Gu, and Lu Jing and vanish out of sight.

Yellow Spring Heavenly Monarch reached out and grabbed at them only to come up empty-handed, causing him to gnash his teeth furiously, “Damn that brat!”

If not for Yang Kai, Ning Dao Ran would never have escaped.

Yellow Spring Heavenly Monarch formed a set of hand seals before turning to look in a certain direction and shouting, “Give chase!”

His figure shifted and he took the lead, with the seven Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters quickly following behind.

Several hundred kilometres away, four figures emerged from the Void and Yang Kai began examining Ning Dao Ran carefully, puzzling the latter.

“Senior Brother Ning, check your body carefully to see if there is anything unusual!” Yang Kai reminded the other party. He believed that his concealment earlier had been perfect, so there was no reason for their whereabouts to be discovered so easily.

Ning Dao Ran’s expression changed. How could he not know what Yang Kai meant? Thus, he quickly surged his Divine Sense to carefully examine every part of his body. A short while later, his expression changed slightly, “There’s a strange Mark on my body. When…”

If not for Yang Kai, he would not have made such a careful search of his body, nor would he have found this Mark on his body.

“Can you remove it?” Yang Kai asked.

“I’ll try!” Ning Dao Ran nodded solemnly and focused on controlling his power in an attempt to disperse the Mark.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai continued to wrap his power around the other three and escaped into the distance.

The eight Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters hurriedly gave chase but not long after, Huang Quan, who had been leading them, stopped in his tracks with a furious expression. The seven people behind him looked in his direction

Huang Quan grunted, “The Soul Tracing Mark is gone. They must have found it.”

“What a pity! All our efforts were all in vain!” Jin Gang sighed as he couldn’t help cursing the little brat who was proficient in the Dao of Space under his breath. That boy had ruined Prison League’s plans twice now.

“It’s fine. We might have failed this time, but we will have other opportunities in the future!” Surprisingly, Huang Quan was rather optimistic about the situation. He gently gave a flick of his sleeves and turned around to head back.

10,000 kilometres away, Yang Kai, Ning Dao Ran, and the others flew forward as swiftly as the wind.

Ning Dao Ran said, “It’s best if you can rethink your decision, Junior Brother. Many changes have taken place on the Prison Star recently. I’m afraid the Elders never expected this to occur during the Dao Theory Assembly. All we can do is work together and support each other until this is all over so that we can escape this place safely.”

After experiencing the incident just now, Yang Kai decided to follow Ning Dao Ran to find Lin Feng and others. Just as Ning Dao Ran mentioned, the Prison League was so powerful that nobody could fight back against them alone. The participating cultivators had to follow their example and huddle together to stay warm.

Yang Kai had his Space Secret Techniques, so he could escape even if he could not win; however, he also had to take care of Lu Jing. He was not sure if he could protect the latter if they fell into critical danger.

They travelled for two whole days before Ning Dao Ran landed on a barren mountain. He checked the surrounding topography and confirmed his position before he took out an incense and lit it.

After a short while, a figure suddenly flew over from not far away and landed directly in front of them. He glanced around at Yang Kai and the others only frowning slightly before he turned to Ning Dao Ran and cupped his fist, “Greetings, Senior Brother Ning!”

Ning Dao Ran nodded, “Did Brother Lin send you here?”

“That’s right. Senior Brother asked me to pick you up.”

“Lead the way.” Ning Dao Ran nodded lightly.

That person glanced at Yang Kai and the others again. Although he found their presence strange, he did not say anything and led the way without hesitation.

It didn’t take long before they entered a cave in the belly of a mountain. The cave was extremely dry and there was no strange smell in the air. Moreover, the surrounding cave walls were decorated with strange stones that emitted fluorescent light and illuminated the passage of the cave.

They followed the man as he took several twists and turns inside the cave. There was no saying how many kilometres they walked before their vision suddenly brightened in front of them and a large karst cave came into view.

At least a hundred people were gathered in this place. In addition, there was a group of nine people standing side-by-side at the forefront. They were clearly waiting for Ning Dao Ran’s arrival. The leader of the group was Lin Feng.

“Senior Brothers, Senior Brother Ning is here,” said the cultivator who led the way earlier.

Lin Feng’s gaze shifted to look behind Ning Dao Ran, then he exclaimed in surprise, “Yang Kai?”

Ning Dao Ran said, “I met Junior Brother Yang on the way and invited him to come here with me.”

Yang Kai smiled slightly, “Your reaction seems to say that I’m not very welcome here, Brother Lin.”

Lin Feng coldly snorted, “You’re already here. Are you going to leave even if I don’t welcome you?’

Yang Kai smiled, “Since I’m already here, of course I won’t leave.”

Gu Pan nodded at him lightly from beside Lin Feng. On the other hand, the others were unfamiliar faces to Yang Kai. He did not know which Cave-Heaven or Paradise they belonged to, but that was no surprise since he had never encountered them before.

The others were also looking at him curiously. Many of them appeared unhappy, but this couldn’t be helped. The reason for their participation in the Dao Theory Assembly was because Yang Kai had muddied the waters in the first place. They only followed their respective Masters on this trip to see the world and increase their experience. They were only forced to participate in the Dao Theory Assembly when a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Yang Kai suddenly appeared.

As a result, things turned sour for them. At this point of the Dao Theory Assembly, the Prison League was running rampant and forcing all of them into hiding. It was a miserable situation, but fortunately, they had gathered a large force now. There were seven or eight Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters among them, though it would still be difficult for them to compete with the veteran Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of Prison League.

It would be more strange for them to look friendly upon seeing the main culprit behind the entire situation at this moment.

Inside the dim cave, the densely-packed stars on Yang Kai’s wrist twinkled brightly, making them very eye-catching. A group of people stared at his wrist with a mixture of shock and astonishment.

The best among them only had 30 or 40 stars at most, which was only half of what Yang Kai had accumulated. Unfortunately, it was difficult to hunt another lone criminal under the current circumstances. In other words, the total achievements that they accumulated so far would basically determine their final rankings in the Dao Theory Assembly.

Several people looked at each other with a shocked look in their eyes.

One of the slender youths seemed to mull over something for a while before he stepped forward and asked, “Brother Lin, are you acquainted with Brother Yang?”

Lin Feng responded with a look of disgust, “We’ve met before.”

That person nodded, “So that’s how it is.” Then, he turned to look at Hui Gu who was standing behind Yang Kai, “And, what is with him? If my guess is correct, he is one of the Prison Star’s criminals, right? Why is he here?”

The black ring around Hui Gu’s wrist was completely different from the golden one the other cultivators wore.

Ning Dao Ran explained, “This is Grey Bones Heavenly Monarch. He has pledged his loyalty to Junior Brother Yang. There’s no need to concern yourselves over him.”

That person frowned, “That being said, there’s always a chance… Every single criminal on the Prison Star is heinous and sly. We must always be on our guard!”

“Brother Zhao is right. This is our hiding place. It would not benefit anybody if the news leaks out and attracts the Prison League. You are welcome to join us, Brother Ning, but Brother Yang and Grey Bones Heavenly Monarch…” Another person slowly shook his head. The meaning behind his words was as clear as could be.

Hui Gu lowered his eyes and said, “Huang Quan killed my only loyal subordinate. This Monarch cannot live under the same sky as him! Also, this Monarch previously snuck into the Prison League under Sir Yang’s orders, but my actions were later exposed, so this Monarch is nothing but a traitor in the eyes of the Prison League.”

Zhao Xing shook his head slowly, “Are we supposed to take your word for it? Brother Lin, the stakes are very high. It’s better not to accept these two into our midst lest they cause trouble for us. It will be too late for regrets by then.”