Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Wu Zheng Qi wore a horrified expression on his face. The scene in front of him was even harder to accept than the fact that he had been heavily injured by Yang Kai in one move. He had just personally witnessed Yang Kai advancing into the Spirit Realm; in other words, Yang Kai was only in the First-Step Spirit Realm. Be that as it may, the strength displayed by this First-Step Spirit Realm Master was beyond his ability to comprehend.

[Is he even Human!?]

Yang Kai’s figure flitted about erratically, and despite Wu Zheng Qi’s sharp eyesight, he could barely keep track of him. Sword lights flashed continuously, and every blow contained terrifying power. Even Old Man Qi, who was in the Ninth-Step Spirit Realm, had great trouble parrying those attacks.

Wu Zheng Qi had never seen such a novel method of fighting in all his years of cultivation. Moreover... it came from an Alchemist!

In his impression, few Alchemists in the world would study the Martial Dao even if they had impressive cultivation. That was because they spent most of their energy and time on the Alchemic Dao. Besides, their cultivation was basically nurtured through the use of pills; after all, the main reason they improved their cultivation at all was simply to perform better in Alchemy.

In this way, the strength that an Alchemist could generally exert often did not match their cultivation. An Alchemist in the Ninth-Step Heaven Realm might not win in battle even if their opponent was several Steps weaker than them. It was precisely because of this consideration that the Blood Warrior Hall existed in Profound Pill Sect and why wandering Alchemists recruited bodyguards to protect themselves.

However, the exact opposite was true when it came to Yang Kai. Every punch and every kick was delivered with unparalleled precision and vicious power. It was impossible to achieve this level of combat-sense without being immersed in the way of killing for hundreds of years. That being said, how old was Yang Kai!? He was only 18 years old when he first joined Profound Pill Sect, which meant he was only slightly past 20 this year! Where did he get such extensive fighting experience!?

All of a sudden, Wu Zheng Qi recalled something. When Yang Kai and Wei Cheng formed a feud with each other over an incident in the Divine Flame Cave, both of them agreed to fight on the Martial Methods Stage. In the second round, Yang Kai had personally fought against one of Wei Cheng’s bodyguards who was in the Heaven Realm and the bodyguard had been knocked off the Martial Methods Stage in a single move.

At the time, Wu Zheng Qi simply assumed that Yang Kai had launched a sneak attack and the Heaven Realm bodyguard had been caught off guard. It would now seem that Yang Kai had already revealed his extraordinary talent in fighting back then, and his strength had only been exponentially magnified with the improvement of his cultivation. At this point, he was definitely the strongest Alchemist in the entire Divine Armament World!

A muffled groan brought Wu Zheng Qi’s messy thoughts back to the present, and when he looked up again, the two figures in the sky that were originally engaged in battle had separated, now standing several dozen metres apart from each other.

Old Man Qi’s body was riddled with tiny wounds, making him seem as though he had been fished out of a pool of blood and there was an incredulous expression on his face. During the brief confrontation just now, he had been at a complete disadvantage. He would have been killed by Yang Kai by now if not for his mighty strength.

On the opposite side, Yang Kai held the True Void Sword lightly. His eyes were lowered, and his large hand holding the sword trembled uncontrollably for some reason. The veins in his forehead bulged, squirming and undulating like earthworms under his skin. His eyes had also changed to become completely blood-red. His appearance looked extremely horrifying.

“You should leave now, Old Man Qi. If you don’t leave now, you will probably die here!” Yang Kai’s suppressed voice resembled the growling of a trapped beast.

Old Man Qi stared at Yang Kai with a fleeting look of struggle in his eyes. He seemed to want to continue the battle, but he simply gritted his teeth and came to Wu Zheng Qi’s side in a flash upon recalling what happened just now. Wrapping his Spirit Qi around Wu Zheng Qi, he soared into the sky.

Just like that, a raging dispute ended in such a bizarre turn of events. All that remained was the City Lord’s Mansion that was now in shambles.

Miao Hong walked over from the side with an awkward expression and softly called out, “Alchemist Yang…”

It was not as though he had been unaware of Old Man Qi and Wu Zheng Qi’s arrival, it was just that he arrived too late. By the time he reached this place, Old Man Qi had already barged into the treasure vault. Besides, Miao Hong was only in the Ninth-Step Heaven Realm, so it was impossible for him to stop Old Man Qi regardless.

What shocked him even more was how Yang Kai had fought viciously against the two Spirit Realm Masters from Profound Pill Sect. Nevertheless, what he witnessed also told him that there was some kind of dispute between Yang Kai and Profound Pill Sect.

He might not understand the reason behind this incident, but it was the truth that Yang Kai’s advancement into the Spirit Realm had been disrupted. Both parties were not people he could afford to offend; hence, Miao Hong was worried that Yang Kai would blame him for this incident.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Yang Kai suddenly turned to look in his direction. The murderous intent in those crimson eyes practically threatened to erupt outward. For an instant, Miao Hong felt as though the entire world was shrouded in blood. Great panic flooded his heart and the feeling of death hit him in the face. He was so scared that he stumbled several steps back unconsciously.

Then, the murderous intent dissipated without warning. Drenched in cold sweat, Miao Hong looked up only to see Yang Kai standing there quietly, gripping his sword tightly. Yang Kai had closed his eyes at some point, but the frightening aura continued to fluctuate around him. It was almost as though that murderous intent would explode with an astounding impact at the slightest stimulation.

[What in the world is going on!?] Miao Hong was completely confused.

Similarly, Hua Rong and Yang Huai did not understand what was going on. Although they had followed Yang Kai for several years now, it was not until today that they realised just how terrifying his strength was. They felt as though they had only gotten to know him today, and their eyes were filled with a mixture of shock and doubt.

…..

In the dark of the night, two figures flew across the sky. They were Old Man Qi and Wu Zheng Qi who escaped from Heavenly Martial City earlier.

Thinking back to what happened just now, the two of them still found the reality extremely difficult to accept despite experiencing it for themselves. A Fifth-Step Spirit Realm Master and a Ninth-Step Spirit Realm Master had been defeated by a newly-advanced Spirit Realm Master, so much so that they were completely powerless to fight back.

“Old Qi, Alchemist Yang…” Wu Zheng Qi couldn’t stand the uncomfortable silence; thus, he was the first to break it.

“Cultivation dissonance!” Old Man Qi replied solemnly, “That boy is definitely suffering from a dissonance in his cultivation!”

Wu Zheng Qi sighed softly, “As expected…”

He had guessed as much in his heart, but it was a truth that was difficult to accept.

Yang Kai was a rare talent in Profound Pill Sect. Since ancient times, no other Heaven Grade Alchemist among all the Heaven Grade Alchemists providing Alchemy services at the Seeking Pill Pavilion had ever achieved a success rate as high as his. It was a pity that a talented individual like him would suffer from cultivation dissonance. How else could a person’s temperament change so much?

“That boy retains a small portion of his consciousness still. Unfortunately, whether or not he can survive this catastrophe will depend entirely on his fortune. This is an urgent matter; we need to report back to the Sect.” Old Man Qi coughed lightly, “And… With this Old Master’s strength alone, he is not his opponent. We have failed this mission.”

Wu Zheng Qi couldn’t help smiling bitterly, “I’m afraid the Sect won’t believe us even if we told them!”

The corners of Old Man Qi’s mouth twitched, “Our duty is to inform them of the truth. Whether they believe us or not is up to them.”

…..

The site where Heavenly Martial City’s treasure vault was originally located had been destroyed. Although the structure of the building was extremely solid, how could the building remain standing after a battle between two Spirit Realm Masters took place here? The remains were now nothing more than rubble and ruins.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai stood there motionlessly like a statue, his sword still in hand. The sun rose in the distance as the moon set on the opposite horizon. During this time, the aura fluctuating around Yang Kai’s body slowly calmed down and the malevolent aura sweeping out in all directions gradually faded.

Three days later, he abruptly opened his eyes and exhaled deeply.

The Heaven Devouring Battle Law was undeniably peculiar and the drawbacks were clearly unavoidable. Yang Kai had devoured an immense amount of energy in one go during his breakthrough and almost exceeded the limits of what he could bear as a result. That was what triggered the hidden dangers of cultivating the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, which in turn caused a great change in his temperament and aroused a wanton killing intent in him.

His battle with Old Man Qi had only added fuel to the fire. If Old Man Qi had continued to fight, Yang Kai wasn’t certain he could have stopped himself. The most likely outcome would have been Old Man Qi dying at his hands, forging an irresolvable blood-feud with Profound Pill Sect. That was not the outcome Yang Kai hoped to see.

It was fortunate that Old Man Qi was a veteran who could read the situation. He immediately fled as soon as he discovered that something was wrong, thereby giving Yang Kai a chance to recover.

Unfortunately, the root of the problem had not been eradicated, even though Yang Kai’s situation had been temporarily stabilized. He would need to meditate and recover for a long time to resolve the hidden dangers brought about by his advancement.

[Regrettably…] Yang Kai turned to look in the direction of Profound Pill Sect as he sighed, [I’m running out of time!]

“Eldest Senior Brother!” Wan Ying Ying shouted timidly with an expression that resembled a frightened rabbit. She clearly wanted to approach him, but did not dare to do so.

Yang Kai turned his head to look at her and nodded lightly, “I’m alright now!”

Upon hearing those words, she burst into tears and plunged into his arms with her head lowered, whimpering through her sobs, “You scared me to death! Eldest Senior Brother, what happened?”

Yang Kai stroked her head lightly, “Something went wrong, but I’m fine now.”

“Sir!” Both Yang Huai and Hua Rong walked over. The former had an expression of reverence on his face while the latter appeared uncharacteristically serious.

Hua Rong had always been casual and unrestrained in front of Yang Kai. That couldn’t be helped as her strength was greater than his. Still, as a bodyguard, she had been dedicated to her duties even if there had barely been any need for her to do anything in recent years. It was not until today that she discovered something shocking, Yang Kai’s actual strength was many times greater than her own… Her presence as a bodyguard was completely unnecessary. Therefore, she was uncertain about how to act around him.

Yang Kai gave them a slight nod before turning to the side, “City Lord Miao, I need your help with something.”

Miao Hong was startled and immediately came forward, “How may I help you, Alchemist Yang?”

“Please help take care of my Little Junior Sister for a few days.” Yang Kai patted Wan Ying Ying’s head.

Miao Hong was stunned for a moment; then, he immediately nodded in response, “No problem. Please rest assured, Alchemist Yang. Young Lady Ying Ying will never suffer any grievances in Heavenly Martial City.” After a pause, he lowered his voice and asked, “Alchemist Yang, are you…”

“I’m going back to Profound Pill Sect!” Yang Kai replied.

The people of Void Spirit Sword Sect were there, and so was the Medicine King Furnace. No matter what, he needed to return to Profound Pill Sect.

Miao Hong seemed to have expected Yang Kai’s answer and nodded his head solemnly, “Please be careful in that case, Alchemist Yang. Profound Pill Sect is one of the Ten Great Sects in the Divine Armament World after all.”

Yang Kai smiled, “I know the strength of Profound Pill Sect better than you, City Lord Miao. I lived there for several years after all.”

Miao Hong was taken aback slightly before nodding, “That’s true.”

Afterward, Yang Kai instructed Hua Rong and Yang Huai, “The two of you will stay here to look after Ying Ying.”

Yang Huai cupped his fist and quickly said, “Regardless of the dangers, I would like to follow you to the death, Sir!”

Hua Rong quickly pulled Yang Huai behind her back, “This big guy has always been stupid, don’t listen to him! If you don’t return, I’ll take Ying Ying and run away from here!”

“Good!”