Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“Second Elder...” Shu Wan Cheng lowered his head to look at the Second Elder on his left.

The Second Elder suddenly coughed violently. He coughed so hard that his complexion went pale and blood trickled out from the corners of his mouth. Once he stopped, he spoke with some difficulty, “Sect Master, please understand, this Elder is plagued with a chronic illness. It just happened to flare up again recently, so my strength has weakened considerably. As much as I am willing to share your burden, Sect Master, I’m afraid I will not be able to handle such important matters well.”

Shu Wan Cheng stared at the Second Elder fixedly. After a long time, he finally nodded and said, “You should have a good rest if your health has deteriorated, Second Elder.” He turned to look at another person, “Great Elder?”

Li Zheng Qing stroked his beard and replied, “It’s only natural for this Elder to obey the Sect Master’s orders. But… my thirteenth concubine is about to give birth. It will only take a few days. Can you give this Elder a few days to witness the birth of my child before I set off for Void Spirit Sword Sect?”

For a moment, the entire group of Elders stared at this old man in amazement. It was soon followed by a stream of congratulatory words. The Great Elder responded with a smile, and the Main Hall became very lively.

On the other hand, Shu Wan Cheng’s face twitched at those words. How could he not know that the Great Elder was simply making up excuses? [Heavens know what’s the true situation with his thirteenth concubine. Am I supposed to wait forever if she doesn’t give birth?]

He couldn’t help but snort lightly. Only then did the people in the Main Hall finally quieten down. Shu Wan Cheng tiredly looked down at all the Elders of Tian Luo Hall and hardened his heart. Just as he was about to announce that he was going to take action himself, a strange commotion suddenly sounded outside the Main Hall.

Even the weakest among the people present in this Main Hall was in the Fourth-Step Earth Realm, so it was only natural that their hearing was extraordinary. They reflexively turned to look outside curiously.

“What’s happening?” Shu Wan Cheng asked with a stomach full of grievances. [It’s bad enough that the Elders are only pretending to show compliance, but now even the disciples are acting so inappropriately! Tian Luo Hall is no longer the united Sect I first established.]

His question was naturally met with no response.

Shu Wan Cheng’s brow furrowed deeply as he could vaguely sense that something was wrong; moreover, there seemed to be a faint stench of blood wafting through the air.

Many of the Elders also became vigilant with the Second Elder exclaiming with a frown, “Something is wrong!”

“I’ll go and take a look!” The Seventh Elder volunteered and his figure flashed as he rushed outside.

A short while later, loud crashing noises mixed with the sound of painful groans came from outside. The expressions of the people inside the Main Hall immediately darkened when they heard those noises and they all stood up from their chairs in unison.

Shu Wan Cheng exchanged a glance with Li Zheng Qing. They both saw the deep wariness in each other’s eyes.

Just then, a figure slowly walked into the Main Hall. It was a handsome young man with a brave and heroic figure. He was dressed in blue and white robes, holding a sheathed sword in one hand while carrying a person in his other. The person in his hands was none other than the Seventh Elder, who went out to check on the situation just now!

The Seventh Elder, a Fifth-Step Earth Realm Master, was now unconscious and being carried by the young man like a sack. His weight of nearly a hundred kilograms seemed as light as a feather in this young man’s hands. The young man’s footsteps were silent as he walked forward, which went to show his great strength and control.

“Who are you?” The Second Elder shouted with a solemn expression. He could vaguely sense that this young man was not someone easy to deal with. This youth had knocked the Seventh Elder unconscious in just a few breaths, so his strength was clearly not to be underestimated.

“Void Spirit Sword Sect, Yang Kai!” Yang Kai broke into a dazzling smile and tossed the person in his hands into the Main Hall. The Seventh Elder crashed into the ground with a loud thud.

“Yang Kai?” Everybody was shocked by the greeting.

Li Zheng Qing narrowed his eyes, “Are you the Eldest Disciple of Void Spirit Sword Sect?” [We were just talking about this person. I can’t believe he showed up here. He truly is reckless to dare to barge into Tian Luo Hall’s Main Hall.]

“Indeed!” Yang Kai nodded.

“Were you the one who killed Elder Zhan Bo Xiong?” Li Zheng Qing asked again.

“Yes!”

Li Zheng Qing turned his head and exchanged a glance with Shu Wan Cheng, a look of suspicion flashing through his eyes.

Logically speaking, Yang Kai should have been heavily injured after he used that devastating Sword Qi attack. Even if he had survived, he should have been crippled, yet just a few days had passed since the incident and he was now standing here in perfect condition. Even if he hadn’t died and somehow made a miraculous recover, it was still impossible for him to knock the Seventh Elder unconscious. The gap in strength between a Seventh-Step Mortal Realm Master and a Fifth-Step Earth Realm Master was simply too wide to cross.

Li Zheng Qing frowned and looked at Yang Kai, “Good, we shall assume that you are Void Spirit Sword Sect’s Yang Kai. So, why have you come to Tian Luo Hall?”

Yang Kai grinned, “Void Spirit Sword Sect discovered a Black Jade mine, but we lack the manpower required to exploit it. I heard that Tian Luo Hall has many disciples, so… please submit to Void Spirit Sword Sect and send some people to help me with this work! You should also know that Void Spirit Sword Sect has very few members. We simply do not have enough hands to go around.”

Upon hearing those words, Shu Wan Cheng looked at Yang Kai with a weird expression, “You want Tian Luo Hall to surrender to Void Spirit Sword Sect? Did I hear it wrong? Or, did you misspeak?”

Yang Kai looked at Shu Wan Cheng, “Are you the Sect Master of Tian Luo Hall, Shu Wan Cheng?”

“Yes, I am the Sect Master!” Shu Wan Cheng acknowledged.

The words had only just left his mouth when he felt a strong burst of wind blowing at his face. Upon a closer look, he saw that Yang Kai, who was originally standing below him, had appeared not far in front of him at some point.

*Xiu…*

A clear sword cry rang out, followed by the flash of a light as the two figures brushed past each other.

All the people in the Main Hall looked up in horror to see Yang Kai and Shu Wan Cheng standing back-to-back one metre apart. Shu Wan Cheng was standing frozen in place, as though somebody had cast a Binding Technique on him. On the other hand, Yang Kai slowly returned his sword to its sheath.

It was only at this moment that the blinding sword light slowly dissipated.

“You…” Shu Wan Cheng opened his mouth, but a line of blood seeped out from between his brow to the tip of his chin. Following a strange sound, his body split in half before both parts exploded out. Blood and organs scattered across the ground and a heavy stench of blood instantly permeated the air.

A series of shocked gasps rang out inside the Main Hall. Every single Tian Luo Hall Elder looked at Yang Kai in terror, urging their respective Spirit Qi so that they were prepared for anything at any time.

Shu Wan Cheng was dead! Tian Luo Hall’s Sect Master was killed by Yang Kai in a single blow! And, they didn’t even manage to see how it had happened!

Shu Wan Cheng was Tian Luo Hall’s strongest Master. He was in the peak of the Earth Realm, only one step away from advancing into the Heaven Realm, yet such a Master had been split apart by a single sword strike as easily as if he was a chicken!

If Yang Kai were to attack any one of them, they would be powerless to fight back. The threat of death made all the hair on their bodies stand on end and chills ran up their spines. They never expected that this young man would be so ruthless as to kill somebody without a single word.

“Where is Tian Luo Hall’s Great Elder?” Yang Kai turned around and looked down at them.

Li Zheng Qing felt his heart clench up in fear. He instinctively wanted to run away, but he could clearly feel that a trace of the young man’s aura was locked firmly on him. If he acted rashly, he would immediately follow in Shu Wan Cheng’s footsteps; thus, he bit his lip and stepped forward, “This Old Master is Tian Luo Hall’s Great Elder. How may I help you?”

At this point, he could be certain that this person was not the Eldest Disciple of Void Spirit Sword Sect. That was because Yang Kai was only in the Seventh-Step Mortal Realm. However, the burst of power from this person just now was obviously higher than the Mortal Realm. He could not distinguish the specific strength of the other party’s cultivation because they had moved too quickly, but it was definitely above the Mortal Realm.

“Congratulations! From now on, you are the Sect Master of Tian Luo Hall!” Yang Kai grandly sat down on the seat that used to belong to Shu Wan Cheng and looked down at Li Zheng Qing standing below him.

Li Zheng Qing was speechless and did not know how to respond. Although he had been waiting for Shu Wan Cheng to die so that he could take the seat of Sect Master for himself, under these circumstances, he did not have the guts to take the seat of the Sect Master even if it was given freely to him.

“This place will be Void Spirit Sword Sect’s Tian Luo Hall Branch from today onward. You will remain as Tian Luo Hall Elders while everything about how the Sect is run will remain unchanged.” Yang Kai issued orders without regard for the others.

The Elders below looked at each other, completely clueless as to what Yang Kai was trying to do.

Li Zheng Qing steeled himself and asked, “May I know what your purpose is?”

“Purpose?” Yang Kai scratched his chin gruffly and replied, “Didn’t I tell you just now? Void Spirit Sword Sect is short of miners, so I want you to send some people over to help!”

“Is that all?” Li Zheng Qing stared at Yang Kai incredulously.

“What else did you think I would want?” Yang Kai looked back at Li Zheng Qing faintly.

Li Zheng Qing looked at the two halves of Shu Wan Cheng’s corpse on the ground and let out a long sigh. [The Sect Master truly died for no reason at all. He was killed just because of something as trivial as this.]

“If that’s all, then this Old Master can make the decision on his own and agree to your request. Tian Luo Hall has nearly 600 disciples, so mining the Black Jade mine will not be a problem.” [In any case, I just need to agree for now. As for the future, we will play it by the ear and see what happens.]

“Good.” Yang Kai nodded, “In addition, this King came here to bring you some small gifts. You can consider them as a welcome present for joining under Void Spirit Sword Sect’s banner.”

Saying so, Yang Kai reached into his pocket and took out a jade bottle. He opened the jade bottle and shot out several round objects with a flick of his hand. These objects flew towards each Elder with great precision.

Li Zheng Qing and the others stretched out their hands to catch the item only to see a light blue soybean-sized pill in their hands. Their expressions immediately tightened and they raised their heads and asked, “What is this?”

“Poison Pills!” Yang Kai replied with a smile.

Even though Li Zheng Qing had prior speculations in his heart, his eyes still twitched when Yang Kai openly admitted the truth.

“You don’t need to worry about what kind of Poison Pill it is; all you need to know is that you will need to consume the antidote once every month; otherwise, you will suffer pain as though thousands of ants are biting your heart and your meridians are shattering. It is truly a feeling worse than being burned to death!”

With Yang Kai’s attainments in the Alchemic Dao, refining something like this was extremely easy for him. He had casually procured some herbs in the local city at the foot of the mountain and refined these Poison Pills. He was currently in urgent need of manpower, but he had no time to make others truly submit to him; therefore, he could only use such methods. Such tactics might be considered despicable, but its advantage lay in the simplicity and convenience.

Li Zheng Qing suppressed his anger and glared at Yang Kai, “Is this the small gift you brought for us?”

“Is it not to your liking, Sect Master?” Yang Kai asked.

Li Zheng Qing suppressed his anger as he yelled in his heart, [Who in the world will like something like this!?]

“Go on! Eat! Why are you not eating? Not eating would be disrespectful! Disrespecting me will not lead to a good ending!” Yang Kai stabbed the True Void Sword into the ground in front of him and his expression darkened.