Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“You can keep something like that and eat it yourself! Kill him!” All of a sudden, a furious roar rang out. Two figures flew out from the left and the right without warning, almost as though their actions were discussed in advance. The Spirit Qi in their bodies surged violently. One person wielded a dagger while the other was bare-fisted. They came at Yang Kai from both sides in a pincer attack.

Shu Wan Cheng had managed Tian Luo Hall for many years, so he was bound to have a few loyal subordinates. That was the case for the two Elders who lunged at Yang Kai. When Shu Wan Cheng was killed just now, they had failed to react and didn’t even have the time to rescue him; however, their patience ran dry when Yang Kai forced them to consume this Poison Pill and they immediately leaped forward.

The Sword Qi on the dagger was impressive, causing it to gleam with a dazzling light. It was obvious that this dagger was an extraordinary Earth Armament. Meanwhile, the other person’s swinging fists flushed red like a red-hot iron. It was obvious that he had pushed his Spirit Qi to its limits with some kind of Secret Technique.

Yang Kai sat in the main seat, a trace of mockery flashing through his eyes at the sight. His sword slid out of its sheath with a loud clang. When the sword halo flowed out, he slashed at the person wielding the dagger. He simultaneously clenched his free hand into a fist and punched out at the other person.

*Dang…*

A crisp sound rang out and blood splashed in all directions. The victor was determined in that moment of confrontation.

The dagger-wielding Elder had fallen to one knee on the ground, staring at the broken armament in his hand, he widened his eyes in shock and exclaimed, “How… is this possible!?”

His dagger was an Earth Armament that had taken a lot of resources for him to hire somebody to refine. It was no Heaven Armament, but it was not that inferior in terms of quality. Even so, his dagger had been cut in two in a single blow. Furthermore, the cut was so clean that it was almost like a piece of tofu that had been sliced with a sharp knife.

He looked up and saw a glowing sword radiating an overwhelming aura pointed directly at him, a drop of blood dripping from its tip.

“Spirit Armament!” The dagger-wielding Elder’s eyes widened in astonishment. [No wonder my Earth Armament was so fragile in comparison! He is wielding a Spirit Armament!]

A dense and heavy darkness loomed over him in the next instant and he collapsed to the ground head-first. Blood gushed out of the wound in his chest and his vitality swiftly dissipated.

On the other hand, the other Elder who lunged forward at the same time was being lifted into the air by the neck by Yang Kai with one hand. His crimson fists were a bloody mess and his arms simply hung weakly by his sides.

Yang Kai remained seated in the head seat, almost as though he had not moved from the spot at all. He slowly increased the strength in his grip as he spoke, “I like stubborn people like you. The sound they make when I crush them gives a very satisfying crunch!”

The Elder who was being held by the neck struggled with all his might, but he could not break free from Yang Kai’s iron grip. A gurgling noise bubbled up endlessly from his throat.

*Kacha…*

There was a loud crack, and the Elder’s head tilted to the side, his aura vanishing in the next instant.

Yang Kai tossed the corpse in his hand to the ground and looked down coldly at the others, “You can all come at me together. I’ll admit that you’re capable if you can kill this King!”

The Elders who were eager to take action earlier were now drenched in a cold sweat. They stared up at the young man above them as though they were looking at a ghost.

They had failed to see what happened when Shu Wan Cheng was killed; hence, they suspected that the Sect Master’s death was due to a sneak attack. They did not have a precise understanding of Yang Kai’s power at the time, and it was not until the two Elders working together had been killed just now that they finally realised the truth. The sword in Yang Kai’s hands was a Spirit Armament! If their guess was correct, that was the True Void Sword replica left behind by the True Void Sword Lord!

A single Spirit Armament was not enough to shock them to their core, but in the end, a Spirit Armament was just an external object. It was not enough to represent the wielder’s true strength. It could be said that the dagger-wielding Fourth Elder had been killed because his weapon was inferior to his enemy’s. His death was unfair.

However, the Fifth Elder’s death was a testament of the young man’s true strength! The Fifth Elder was a Sixth-Step Earth Realm Master, but in a head-on clash of fists, he couldn’t even make that young man rise from his seat!

[Could this person be in the Heaven Realm!?] The Elders immediately despaired as soon as that thought crossed their minds. They originally had their own thoughts and agendas, but all their plans dissipated in that moment. In front of a Heaven Realm Master, they were nothing more than ants.

Great Elder Li Zheng Qing was the first person to return to his senses. Stuffing the Poison Pill in his hand into his mouth, he swallowed hard and cupped his fist, “Tian Luo Hall will obey you from today onward, Sir! As long as you have orders, Tian Luo Hall will not disobey!”

It was not until this moment that the rest of them reacted. They swallowed the Poison Pills at the speed of lightning to profess their surrender.

Yang Kai smiled brightly, “A wise man will submit to the circumstances. You will not regret the choice you made today.”

What came next was simple. Tian Luo Hall’s Sect Master and two Elders had died at Yang Kai’s hands. In addition to Zhan Bo Xiong who was killed previously, only six Elders remained from the original nine. Great Elder Li Zheng Qing took over as Tian Luo Hall’s Sect Master, and Tian Luo Hall became a branch of Void Spirit Sword Sect.

The turbulent changes at the top had little effect on the disciples below them. Li Zheng Qing announced to the public that the Sect Master, Fourth Elder, and Fifth Elder lost their lives due to a dissonance in their cultivation. Although the disciples had some doubts in their hearts, they could only accept what they were told.

A mighty procession consisting of hundreds of disciples then marched towards Void Spirit Sword Sect under the leadership of the Elders, ready to help Yang Kai with mining the Black Jade lode.

Meanwhile, Li Zheng Qing brought Yang Kai on a tour of Tian Luo Hall’s storehouses to report on the assets and the industries under Tian Luo Hall’s name.

Yang Kai was not too interested in such matters. On the contrary, he was extremely interested in the items inside Tian Luo Hall’s storehouses. After refining the Sword Qi in the True Void Sword, his cultivation had advanced from the Seventh-Step Mortal Realm to the First-Step Earth Realm in one go, but he was now short on cultivation resources. That was why he came here to obtain the necessary manpower for mining.

Unfortunately, mining the Black Jade mine would not produce results in a short time. Conversely, the items inside Tian Luo Hall’s storehouse would solve his immediate needs.

“Enough. Everything in Tian Luo Hall will remain unchanged. You can take care of it yourself. I’m going to cultivate in retreat for a while. Just send three meals a day to me.” Yang Kai waved his hand dismissively and interrupted Li Zheng Qing’s endless chatter.

This old man was very perceptive, and his ability to jump onto the bandwagon was quite amazing. Since surrendering to Yang Kai, his attitude quickly changed accordingly.

“Sir, are you going to enter retreat here?” Li Zheng Qing was slightly taken aback, “Do you need this Old Master to find you a secluded room?”

“No need. It’s a pain to move around.” Yang Kai waved Li Zheng Qing away.

“In that case, this Old Master will take his leave.” Li Zheng Qing said nothing more and left respectfully.

When the door to the storehouse closed tightly, the light inside became dim. Fortunately, various stones that glowed in the dark were placed around the interior of the storehouse, so it was not completely pitch-black.

Yang Kai took out the many pills stored in the storehouse and sat on top of a huge pile of White Jades.

Tian Luo Hall’s financial resources were undoubtedly many times greater than those of Void Spirit Sword Sect. When Yang Kai emptied out the entire Void Spirit Sword Sect’s storehouse back then, he only managed to procure slightly more than 2,000 White Jades. He didn’t even see a single piece of Black Jade.

In contrast, Tian Luo Hall’s storehouse had nearly 20,000 White Jades as well as several hundred Black Jades. On top of that, there were about 300 bottles of different pills.

[So many resources! I wonder how far my cultivation will increase with these!]

Be that as it may, he had already reached the Earth Realm, so his need for cultivation resources was also greater now.

Yang Kai opened several bottles of pills and swallowed them whole. After that, he grabbed a handful of White Jades with both hands. Just as he was about to circulate the Void Spirit Art though, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

The Void Spirit Art could be considered a fairly impressive Secret Art in the Divine Armament World; if not, the True Void Sword Lord would not have been born in the past. As long as one cultivated steadily and had enough aptitude and resources, advancing into the Spirit Realm was not an issue.

There were two reasons as to why Void Spirit Sword Sect consisted of just a few mediocre disciples. The first was that their aptitude was insufficient, but the second and more important one was that they lacked adequate resources. If they had enough resources, Void Spirit Sword Sect would definitely be much stronger than it currently was.

Besides, the current Void Spirit Art had been modified by Yang Kai, resulting in its efficiency rising by some 30% compared to the original. But, no matter how extraordinary it was, it was still just a Secret Art from the Divine Armament World. It was unable to break free from the shackles of the Divine Armament World.

Yang Kai had been travelling across many Worlds for hundreds of years, and during that time, he killed countless enemies and plundered countless Secret Arts. Naturally, he had Secret Arts that were much more powerful than the Void Spirit Art.

[Perhaps... I can try using a different Secret Art to cultivate.] While considering all this, a certain Heaven-defying Secret Art suddenly leaped into his mind!

Yang Kai might have collected countless Secret Arts, but if he was honest, he never came across another Secret Art that was more amazing than this particular one. It was just that cultivating this Secret Art came with severe drawbacks, which was why he never tried it before even though he had mastered it long ago.

[I might be able to try and study the mysteries of this Secret Art inside the Divine Armament World! This place is a Small Source World after all, so even if something goes wrong, it won’t affect my true body too much.]

After various considerations, Yang Kai quickly made up his mind. This was a great opportunity and it would be such a waste to let it simply slip through his fingers.

Taking a shallow breath, he activated the Spirit Qi in his body and modified its circulation route to activate the most profound Secret Art he knew, the Heaven Devouring Battle Law!

In an instant, Yang Kai felt as though his body had turned into a bottomless pit. The Spirit Qi contained in the White Jades poured into his body at a terrifying speed and even the medicinal efficacies from the pills he previously consumed quickly dissolved into his body and seeped into his internal organs.

He was absolutely astonished and nearly stopped circulating the Heaven Devouring Battle Law as a result.

This was the first time Yang Kai had personally cultivated this strange Secret Art. Although he received the Heaven Devouring Battle Law in the past, he only allowed his Embodiment to cultivate this Secret Art. He had never tried it for himself before.

Following a series of coincidental encounters, Yang Kai later learned that not cultivating this Secret Art had been the right choice.

The Heaven Devouring Battle Law mainly worked by refining the energy of all things in the world for one’s own use; hence, the Secret Art could turn absolutely anything into a cultivation resource. Naturally, the benefits were extremely high. However, by using this Secret Art, a cultivator would refine both the good and the bad into his body, which would cause indelible damage to himself unless he could find a method to expel the massive amount of impurities this resulted in.

The Embodiment had the body of a Stone Spirit Clansman, so he had the innate ability to expel all forms of impurities. That was why he did not suffer any drawbacks from cultivating this Secret Art. It could be said that the Heaven Devouring Battle Law was perfectly suited for the Stone Spirit Clan.

Yang Kai did not know how Wu Kuang resolved this drawback, but he was certain he had some method.

Now that Yang Kai was properly using the Heaven Devouring Battle Law for the first time, he discovered that this Secret Art’s speed of refining was absolutely insane. The efficiency was not just several times greater than the Void Spirit Art, it could be said to be over 100 times more effective.

The light of the White Jades in his hand dimmed at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. As the Spirit Qi faded away, the medicinal efficacies from the pills in his stomach were simultaneously refined cleanly. That was not all though as even the Spirit Qi of the White Jades and the Black Jades around him surged madly and poured towards his body under the guiding force of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law.