Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

Once an artefact had an Artefact Spirit, the power it could display would dramatically increase.

Because of this, some cultivators had developed amazing methods to artificially create Artefact Spirits with Monster Beast spirits. After hunting down a powerful Monster Beast, they would use a secret method to extract its Soul from its body then seal it into an artefact. Then, with enough time and effort, it was possible to slowly transform this soul into an Artefact Spirit.

This method was extremely bloody and cruel, and the sacrificial process was incredibly inhumane. The Monster Beast spirit sealed inside the artefact would experience unimaginable torture during the process so even if the process ultimately succeeded, the artefact would inevitably become malevolent. However, there was still a massive gap between this kind of artificial Artefact Spirit and one which was created naturally. Although an artificial Artefact Spirit could still enhance the power of an artefact, it wouldn’t be so astonishing.

The success rate for this method was quite low and it consumed a large amount of time and resources, so no one except those who cultivated evil Secret Arts and had immense patience would try to artificially create an Artefact Spirit, not to mention that very few even knew how to.

The Artefact Spirit Yang Kai encountered this time was an orthodox existence, it wasn’t an evil artificial Artefact Spirit created by some cultivator. It lacked a malevolent aura, so it was clear that this Artefact Refining Furnace had given birth to it through a series of chance coincidences.

Although this Artefact Refining Furnace wasn’t an artefact used for battle, it was also not low-grade. The presence from this strange bird Artefact Spirit pressured Yang Kai greatly.

Seeing it dive towards him, Yang Kai’s entire field of vision was filled with fiery red, as if the entire stone chamber had been filled with an incomparably hot fire aura and nothing else could be seen.

Yang Kai could only silently hope that this spirit had only been born a short time ago and had not achieved true sentience.

As he quickly retreated, Yang Kai summoned his purple shield and madly poured his Saint Qi into it, creating a violent sandstorm around his body for protection.

However, as soon as this sandstorm appeared, the Scarlet Firebird spread its wings and whipped up an intense gust mixed with numerous scorching hot blades of flame that immediately broke open the sandstorm barrier.

The fierce wind fanned the intense flames, multiplying its power. This Firebird’s strength was dreadful and caused Yang Kai’s breathing to cease and his heart to clench. A Demonic Flame sword appeared in his hand and he slashed the air in front of him.

*Peng peng peng…*

A series of loud explosions rang out as the red hot blades were struck by the jet black sword, the two mutually annihilating each other, but the number of flame blades was unlimited while the sword waves Yang Kai could send out were not, so he quickly found himself at a disadvantage.

A casual strike from this Scarlet Firebird held such incredible might!

Yang Kai waved his hand and summoned the Hundred Mountains Picture, drawing out one of the peaks from inside it before sending it crashing towards the red storm of blades.

A look of disdain and ridicule flashed across the eyes of the Scarlet Firebird, and it beat its wings once more. The flame blades which had not yet been destroyed transformed into tiny fire snakes that flew around the Hundred Mountains Picture peak before continuing towards Yang Kai.

After seeing this kind of human-like expression, Yang Kai felt his heart sink as he cursed to himself.

This Artefact Spirit had not only achieved sentience, but its intelligence and cognizance had also reached quite a high level. Otherwise, how could it have shown such a look?

What’s more, since this spirit was born from an Artefact Refining Furnace, it was inherently proficient in Fire Attribute laws and methods. It was unwise to fight against it in this small stone chamber.

Yang Kai instantly decided to withdraw.

At the same time as he sent out a bunch of black fireballs, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense moved and he used his Yuan Control Mastery to shape these fireballs into a series of snake-like attacks to counter the Firebird’s onslaught.

The red and black snakes collided with one another, constantly biting and devouring each other, seemingly forming a kind of deadlock.

Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai retreated. He didn’t want to fight in this space against such an Artefact Spirit.

However, the Firebird’s thoughts were extremely sharp and it realized what Yang Kai wanted to do at a glance. Cocking its head back, the Firebird spat out a basin sized fireball and that contained a massive amount of Fire Attribute energy, causing Yang Kai’s heart to jump.

If he were to be hit by this fireball he would be seriously injured, if not dead, so Yang Kai hurriedly dodged.

The strange bird seemed to have known that Yang Kai would take such actions and the look of disdain on its face grew even thicker. The fireball flew past Yang Kai and burst apart at the entrance to the room; however, instead of the Fire Attribute energy dissipating, it transformed into a red-light curtain that sealed up the exit.

Yang Kai’s face sank!

The Scarlet Firebird unexpectedly wanted to trap him here.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of simple barrier wouldn’t be able to bar Yang Kai’s path, and with some slight effort, he could break through it. However, with the Artefact Spirit eyeing him covetously, how could Yang Kai have the time to break through this red light curtain?

Once he tried, it would only leave him vulnerable to the Artefact Spirit’s attacks.

“Damn bird, you brought this on yourself!” Yang Kai’s face filled with wrath, no longer thinking about retreating and instead fiercely pushing the Demonic Flames rumbling outside his body, transforming himself into a giant black fireball. The black flames seemed capable of burning everything in existence, even the light which touched it, making it basically impossible to see Yang Kai’s true face anymore.

Seeing Yang Kai become enraged, the look of mockery on the strange bird’s face disappeared as it seemed to realize it had made a mistake. The person in front of it was not some soft persimmon that could casually be pinched, and forcing him to remain wasn’t a wise choice.

However, it was just an Artefact Spirit. Although it had achieved a high degree of sentience, it wouldn’t think about such things too deeply. With a loud screech, it sent out an invisible attack that tore through Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea defences and directly impacted his Soul.

Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the water and flames tumbled chaotically. Yang Kai cursed loudly as he desperately suppressed the abnormal condition of his Knowledge Sea while simultaneously waving his hands to fill the stone chamber with black flames. The Demonic Flames poured out from Yang Kai’s body and soon occupied half of the room as they resisted the pure fire aura coming from the Scarlet Firebird.

The situation inside the stone room suddenly became quite strange, with half of it near the entrance filled with opaque pitch-black darkness while the other half was a sea of blisteringly hot red ​​fire.

The two energies collided fiercely at the urging of Yang Kai and the Scarlet Firebird.

The entire stone chamber shook under the fierce collisions of energy, with the ground, ceiling, and stone walls constantly flickering with light as its defensive arrangements blocked the various explosive shockwaves.

Fortunately, this place was designed for the most outstanding Artefact Refiner of a great Sect to refine, so it had been equipped with numerous protective Spirit Arrays. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for a plain stone room to withstand the fallout from Yang Kai and the Artefact Spirit’s battle.

The black and red light continued to collide, both refusing to yield to the other.

Yang Kai’s expression was dignified, and the elegant body of the Scarlet Firebird was constantly twisting, a series of strange noises constantly escaping from its mouth.

This confrontation lasted an incense stick worth of time before the stone chamber returned to its former appearance. Yang Kai and the Artefact Spirit stared at each other from across the distance, both realizing that a frontal collision like this was pointless.

Yang Kai couldn’t have imagined that a trivial Artefact Spirit could actually fight him evenly! Yang Kai knew his own strength better than anyone; even if he were to encounter a First-Order Origin Returning Realm master, if the opponent was the slightest bit careless, he was confident he could severely injure them. As for whether he could kill such a master, that would depend more on his opponent’s means.

However, this Artefact Spirit was not inferior to him.

This was just an Artefact Spirit without a master, which meant it couldn’t even exert its full strength. If this Artefact Spirit was controlled by a master, Yang Kai was certain he wouldn’t be its opponent.

An Artefact Spirit wasn’t a true entity, it was an existence tied to an artefact and only through it could it display its completely might.

He was struggling so hard to fight a handicapped opponent, if he were to be facing this Firebird’s true power…

Just as Yang Kai was thinking so, his face suddenly changed, and his expression grew far more solemn. Not even hesitating, Yang Kai condensed over a hundred Grand Heavenly Shields in front of himself while at the same time summoning his purple shield.

The Artefact Spirit was showing a wild and violent appearance, and the Artefact Refining Furnace, which had silently been sitting at the centre of the stone chamber, was also humming audibly. Immediately, the Artefact Refining Furnace flew up into the air and began rapidly spinning, shooting out clusters of red hot flames that shot into the Firebird’s body.

Suddenly, the Firebird’s aura increased dramatically, and an oppressive feeling spread out from it.

Yang Kai’s face instantly went pale as he exclaimed, “Shi!”

This Artefact Spirit actually understood how to use Shi that only Origin Returning Realm masters could comprehend.

Didn’t Qian Tong say that Shi couldn’t exist inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field? Once a cultivator who had comprehended Shi entered the Flowing Flame Sand field, they would instantly be incinerated. It was for this reason that no Origin Returning Realm master could enter this place and why for all previous openings of this Forbidden Zone only Saint Kings had entered.

But when this strange bird used Shi, nothing happened to it.

Quickly, however, Yang Kai noticed that this power was only similar to Shi, and wasn’t Shi itself. This Firebird had manipulated the rich fire aura inside this stone room and taken advantage of the surrounding World Energy to display this profound method.

Worthy of a Fire Attribute Artefact Spirit, this Firebird was truly skilled at manipulating Fire Attribute World Principles, shocking Yang Kai greatly.

This was the second time Yang Kai had fallen into this kind of strange field. The last time was when he fought against Xie Hong Wen’s Origin Returning Realm guard outside Dragon Cave Mountain.

However, his opponent’s Shi back then was incomparable to the one he was currently facing. The last time Yang Kai was wrapped in Shi, although his actions became somewhat sluggish, he didn’t feel too much pressure.

Currently, Yang Kai felt extremely heavy and his bones were making creaking sounds as his legs threatened to give out. Even something as simple as moving his fingers was nearly impossible.

There seemed to be an invisible set of chains wrapped around him, locking him firmly in place, rendering him unable to move.

Even his Divine Sense and Saint Qi were locked firmly inside his body, making it impossible for Yang Kai to gather any strength!