Martial Peak

Chapter 4582 – Consumption

Translator: Silavin & Ashish

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

When Qing Kui saw the entire hall filled with Sixth-Order Open Heaven Masters, especially the seven who had just broken through to the Sixth-Order directly, he could almost picture another Cave Heaven or Paradise rising within the next few ten thousand years!

“Senior Brother Qing, Senior Sister Su, you have provided my Void Land a great help by coming here. If not for you appearing, when we fought Zuo Quan Hui, we wouldn’t have been able to catch him off guard.”

Qing Kui’s eyes flashed as realization dawned upon him, “So, that’s your plan.”

Even Su Ying Xue and he didn’t know that Void Land had so many Sixth-Order Masters, so it was likely that Zuo Quan Hui didn’t know about this either. This point was also clear from the way Zuo Quan Hui had arranged his forces today.

According to the original intelligence, Void Land had eight available Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters apart from Yang Kai, whereas Heavenly Sword Union had a total of ten. Heavenly Sword Union had first sent out eight Sixth-Order Masters to deal with Void Land’s eight Sixth-Order Masters, then sent out the last two to exert pressure. If Yang Kai wanted to stabilize the situation, he would have no choice but to show himself.

Once Yang Kai appeared, Zuo Quan Hui would have a chance to act. This was probably Zuo Quan Hui’s original plan.

The battle between the two sides was not only a life and death struggle between their Open Heaven Realm subordinates, but also a psychological contest.

Unfortunately, Zuo Quan Hui’s luck seemed to be bad. Qing Kui and Su Ying Xue, who had appeared out of nowhere, had foiled his plans. Who knows how he might be venting off his anger in Heavenly Sword Palace right now?

“Senior Brother Qing, I only have one question right now,” Yang Kai leaned forward slightly.

Qing Kui stretched out his hand and stated, “Junior Brother, if there’s anything you want to ask, just ask. If I know it, I won’t conceal anything from you.”

Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly and asked in a low voice, “Can Zuo Quan Hui be killed or not?”

Hearing this, Qing Kui’s pupils immediately shrank. He was taken aback by Yang Kai’s courage and appetite and was suddenly at a loss for words.

Although he and Su Ying Xue had received orders from their Master to assist Yang Kai, they had never harbored any hope of killing a High-Rank Open Heaven Master. From the start, their plan was to protect Yang Kai and retreat to Void Land.

After all, they were from Yin-Yang Cave Heaven, so Zuo Quan Hui would have some scruples more or less, so he couldn’t just kill them. As long as they could retreat to Void Land, Zuo Quan Hui wouldn’t be able to do anything to Yang Kai with Bi Xi’s protection.

Pondering for a moment, Qing Kui asked, “Is Junior Brother Yang worried about Thousand Cranes Paradise?”

Yang Kai indifferently replied, “I killed Zhao Xing and Zuo Quan Hui jumped out. If I kill Zuo Quan Hui, who knows if Thousand Cranes Paradise will jump out?”

Qing Kui’s scalp went numb. He could not figure out why he had started discussing the topic of killing a High-Rank Open Heaven Master with Yang Kai, but he felt like he was dreaming. After all, how could a High-Rank Open Heaven Master be so easy to kill? Although the number of Sixth-Order Open Heaven Masters on Void Land’s side was massive, if they were to fight against a veteran Seventh-Order Master, things would not end well for Void Land.

Still, Qing Kui lightly nodded in response, “That’s true, but Zuo Quan Hui’s situation is different from Zhao Xing’s.”

Yang Kai humbly requested, “Senior Brother Qing, please enlighten me.”

Qing Kui waved off and continued with a wry smile, “It’s nothing so profound. Zhao Xing was a Core Disciple of Thousand Cranes Paradise and had a chance to break through to the Eighth-Order in the future. After being killed on the Prison Star, Thousand Cranes Paradise needed to regain its face; otherwise, they would become the laughingstock across the 3,000 Worlds. However, with my Yin-Yang Cave Heaven pressuring them, they can’t make a big fuss about it. As Zhao Xing’s Honoured Master, Zuo Quan Hui had no choice but to take a different approach.

“The public news from Thousand Cranes Paradise is that Zuo Quan Hui’s faction betrayed the Sect. Since they have betrayed the Sect, they are rebels and now have nothing to do with Thousand Cranes Paradise, similar to us as we were expelled from the Sect by our Honoured Master, but also quite different.” Qing Kui smiled, “Let’s put it this way, after this matter is settled, Honoured Master can take us back into the Sect, but no matter what, Zuo Quan Hui will never be able to return to Thousand Cranes Paradise; otherwise, Thousand Cranes Paradise will lose all face. This is the price he must pay for his ‘rebellion’.”

Yang Kai raised his brow and added, “If that’s the case, if I can kill Zuo Quan Hui, it would be the same as helping Thousand Cranes Paradise clean up its Sect. They should thank me instead.”

Qing Kui opened his mouth and wryly smiled, “That would be so, if all parties were acting in earnest!”

In fact, everyone was aware of the true story behind Zuo Quan Hui’s ‘betrayal’. If Void Land really killed him, Thousand Cranes Paradise naturally wouldn’t show any gratitude, but they also had no right to seek revenge.

Yang Kai nodded, “I understand!”

All of a sudden, Yang Kai felt refreshed. All the troubles that had been haunting him regarding this war were now swept away. Ever since Zuo Quan Hui began targeting Void Land, Yang Kai had been somewhat worried about Thousand Cranes Paradise interfering. If he was alone, he wouldn’t have to think too much about it. After so many years of painstaking cultivation, if he was all on his own, all he would have to worry about is killing Zuo Quan Hui and clearing away their grudge. Alternatively, he could be killed by Zuo Quan Hui and be freed of all troubles.

However, as the Lord of Void Land, Yang Kai had no choice but to worry about the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Void Land disciples.

Now, he had no more concerns after hearing everything from Qing Kui.

Zuo Quan Hui could be killed!

After letting Qing Kui and Su Ying Xue withdraw to rest, Yang Kai finally had time to check the casualties.

In this battle, the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters didn’t suffer much of an effect, but those below the Sixth-Order had killed nearly a hundred enemies. Although this didn’t sound like a lot, everyone who participated in this battle was an Open Heaven Realm Master.

Yang Kai didn’t know how many Open Heaven Realm Masters there were in Heavenly Sword Union, but today’s battle was enough to make the hearts of the higher-ups of Heavenly Sword Union bleed.

There were also casualties on Void Land’s side, but they weren’t nearly as high. Less than 20 had been killed, so it was a significant victory!

After the great battle, everyone diligently cultivated and recuperated.

Yang Kai also began strategizing. Heavenly Sword Union had ten Sixth-Order Masters, Void Land originally had sixteen, and with the arrival of Qing Kui and Su Ying Xue, the number had increased to eighteen.

They had eight more Masters than the enemy, and if Luan Bai Feng was included, the gap would grow even larger.

However, because Iron Blood Great Emperor and the others had just broken through to the Sixth-Order, they wouldn’t be able to gain any advantage against the veteran Sixth-Order Masters on the enemy’s side, so once they showed themselves and participated in the battle, they would have to fight two against one to be of any use.

In other words, the seven who had just advanced could at most restrain three or four opponents in the same realm.

If Yang Kai wanted to kill Zuo Quan Hui, he estimated that he would need six or seven veteran Sixth-Order Masters to cooperate with him to have a chance.

Void Land’s strength was still somewhat lacking!

After all, once the power of Void Land was completely exposed, if they couldn’t kill the snake, it would become impossible to threaten Zuo Quan Hui again. They only had one chance! As such, Yang Kai needed to be fully prepared and possess decisive strength.

Moreover, the most important problem was that the Heavenly Sword Palace was too close to the Territory Gate. Once Zuo Quan Hui noticed that something was wrong, there was a high chance he would retreat to Flying Smoke Territory. At that time, the question would be whether to give chase or not?

If they pursued, Zuo Quan Hui would definitely ambush them at the Territory Gate, and who among them could resist the sneak attack of a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Master? If they didn’t pursue, all their previous efforts would be wasted.

Yang Kai was now having a headache. Zuo Quan Hui’s cautiousness had given Void Land some breathing room, but it also made killing him extremely difficult.

Now that things had reached this point, Yang Kai could only take things one step at a time. The situation on the battlefield was ever-changing, so perhaps he could find a suitable opportunity to act.

Perhaps he could send a message to Luan Bai Feng to find an opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Zuo Quan Hui.

After the first confrontation, Heavenly Sword Palace’s side remained calm for a full two months. Two months later, great waves rose again as a large number of lights flew out, heading straight for Void Land’s encampment.

Void Land had long since taken precautions, so when they saw this scene, they naturally charged forward to meet the enemy.

The two sides once again engaged in a fierce battle in the void, leaving behind dismembered corpses and broken limbs as they retreated.

In the main hall, after taking inventory of the casualties, Yang Kai looked out at the crowd and stated, “Zuo Quan Hui used his connections to gather a number of Second and Third Class forces. Although it didn’t affect the number of Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, there were quite a few more Open Heaven Realm Masters below the Sixth-Order. Not only did they supplement the losses they suffered during the last battle, their numbers even grew quite a bit.”

Most of the people in the hall were shocked when they heard this. Right now, Void Land’s greatest advantage was the number of Open Heaven Realm Masters they had below the Sixth-Order. If they didn’t even have this advantage, the situation would definitely deteriorate.

Qing Kui hesitated for a moment before asking, “Has this been confirmed?”

During this time, he had been staying in this small shattered Spirit Province, preparing for battle at any time, but he had not seen Yang Kai send anyone out to inquire about the situation, so he was naturally curious.

Yang Kai nodded, “En, it has been confirmed.”

The news had come from Luan Bai Feng, and she naturally understood the complete situation inside the Heavenly Sword Palace.

Qing Kui’s eyes flashed as he quickly realized something and began suspecting Yang Kai must have some kind of spy in Heavenly Sword Palace, so he didn’t ask any further.

“Then what is Zuo Quan Hui trying to do?” Hui Gu frowned, “Many of them died today.”

Yang Kai explained, “No matter how many casualties there are, it means nothing to Zuo Quan Hui. All the forces under his command are outsiders with the exception of his last personal Disciple, a Sixth-Order woman named Zi Yan. As long as Zi Yan doesn’t die, why would he care about the lives of others? The battles in the future will only become more frequent, so everyone should be prepared.”

“If he remains hiding and has his subordinates fight to the death, what does he want?” Mo Mei was puzzled.

Yang Kai took a deep breath, “He’s following the same plan as before, trying to wear us down!”

Zuo Quan Hui had sealed the Territory Gate and spread the news that he had an irreconcilable feud with Void Land. As a result, the Star City’s popularity had plummeted and Void Land’s revenue stream had basically disappeared. With so many people cultivating and needing resources, it was natural to begin running short of supplies.

Once Void Land’s resources ran out, Yang Kai would inevitably come out, giving Zuo Quan Hui a chance to act.

If it weren’t for the frequent activation of the Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array, which made Zuo Quan Hui realize something was wrong, he wouldn’t have led Heavenly Sword Union into Void Territory so quickly.

More importantly, Zuo Quan Hui’s plan to lure the snake out of its hole had become hopeless after the arrival of Qing Kui and Su Ying Xue. Since he couldn’t bring out any more Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, he could only use his connections, force, or enticement to bolster his numbers.

And when a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master gave an order, how could mere Second or Third Class forces resist? Whether they wanted to or not, they had to submit and obey his commands.