Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

However, what shocked the stern-faced man was that no matter how he probed, he couldn’t detect any trace of Yang Kai concealing his cultivation. It seemed that the other party really was just a First-Order Saint King.

After realising this though, he didn’t delve into it any deeper. He came from Star Emperor Sect, and was a rarely seen genius, so even if Yang Kai really was hiding his cultivation, he wouldn’t fear him, not to mention that this person might have cultivated some special concealing technique or be wearing a strange artefact that gave the illusion of him being a First Order Saint King.

He didn’t want to believe that Yang Kai really was just a First Order Saint King.

“Friend shouldn’t misunderstand!” Yang Kai knit his brow, “I simply heard some noise coming from here and came to take a look.”

Yang Kai explaining himself wasn’t because he was afraid of this stern-faced man, but rather because this man seemed like someone not to be provoked easily. Yang Kai was unwilling to get into a fight with him over some small misunderstanding.

To his surprise though, the other party just gently nodded, the vigilance on his face relaxing significantly, without showing any aggressive intent. This man even withdrew his silver spear.

Without asking anything else, the stern-faced man suddenly inquired, “What’s your name?”

Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before reporting his name.

“Leng Qing!” The other party responded in kind.

Yang Kai frowned inadvertently. He didn’t believe that the other party would try to learn his name for no reason. This man had never said a word when facing Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng, or anyone else, he was the type of Heaven blessed genius that wouldn’t put anyone in his eyes; however, he had actually introduced himself here, causing Yang Kai to become slightly vigilant.

Taking another glance towards the Sect Defending Array as well as the indistinct buildings inside, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed even deeper.

Sure enough, just as he was worried, the man named Leng Qing asked, “Are you interested in joining forces to break this Sect Defending Array?”

“Sorry, I’m not interested!” Yang Kai shook his head without hesitation.

Leng Qing was somewhat startled, seemingly not having thought someone in this world would actually reject his proposal. On top of that, was there really someone who could be so indifferent facing this kind of Sect ruins?

After his thoughts turned for a moment, Leng Qing said lightly, “Do you think the two of us have no chance of breaking this Shield Array?”

“Exactly, I don’t think there’s much hope, so I don’t want to waste my energy,” Yang Kai nodded frankly. When this guy had been attacking earlier, Yang Kai had also observed the Sect Defending Array’s response and fully realised how extraordinary it was. Additionally, this was just the outermost layer of this defensive array. Leng Qing’s fierce attacks just now hadn’t even been able to shake this barrier so Yang Kai didn’t believe him joining the effort would make a difference.

Of course, if he didn’t hesitate to use ten or twenty drops of Golden Blood all at once to create a massive explosion, it might be possible to break this kind of barrier.

But so, what if they could break this first layer?

Yang Kai was well aware that beyond this outer layer there were definitely more, and the further one penetrated, the more dangers they would encounter. Yang Kai wasn’t confident he could overcome all these barriers and even if he could, he didn’t want to spend the time doing so.

A Sect Defending Array that had remained intact for tens of thousands of years was not something to trifle with.

That was why he flatly rejected Leng Qing’s proposal without any hesitation.

“Why do you think I can’t break it?” What surprised Yang Kai though, was that this man who always wore an indifferent expression suddenly seemed to be annoyed when Yang Kai spoke so bluntly, a dangerous aura even slowly welling up from his body.

Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed, and he said coldly, “If you think you can break it open, feel free to do so. I’ll take my leave.”

Saying so, he turned around and left, a moment later disappearing into the forest.

Leng Qing stared at the disappearing back of Yang Kai, his expression somewhat tight. He didn’t know why, but this cultivator named Yang Kai didn’t seem anxious or fearful in the slightest when facing him. On top of that, Yang Kai gave him a somewhat dangerous feeling. Although this feeling only appeared for a moment, it was enough to put Leng Qing on alert.

This feeling only appeared when he was confronting truly powerful people; did that mean this Yang Kai had the ability to wound him?

Shaking his head, Leng Qing no longer thought about this matter and simply made a note to himself to ask the old monsters back on Star Emperor Mountain about if there was some powerful master in this world that could cultivate such a strange disciple.

After Yang Kai ran out twenty kilometres or so, he heard a loud rumbling sound from behind him. Apparently, the man named Leng Qing was attacking the Sect Defending Array again.

If others were willing to engage in such fruitless activities, Yang Kai wouldn’t stop them; in any case, the two of them had nothing to do with one another.

Originally, Yang Kai had reminded Dai Yuan to be careful if she encountered this cultivator called Leng Qing, but now it seems those worries were superfluous. As long as Leng Qing was attacking the Sect Defending Array here, it would basically consume all his remaining time. Dai Yuan on the other hand, who was searching for spirit herbs, wouldn’t stupidly come over and disturb Leng Qing.

Because of the obstruction of this Sect Defending Array, Yang Kai had to make a long detour. Occasionally glancing inside it, Yang Kai confirmed that all he could see were some blurry traces of buildings among the many Spirit Peaks.

Ten days later, Yang Kai was still able to feel the existence of the Sect Defending Array, filling his heart with shock.

The range cover by this Sect Defending Array had to at least be several thousand kilometres, which meant that this entire region was the extent of this ancient sect. It was conceivable just how astonishing this Sect had been tens of thousands of years ago and just how many disciples belonged to it.”

However, such a massive Sect was now completely empty, an extremely strange matter.

Along the way, Yang Kai didn’t have any gains, but after ten days, he finally managed to circumvent the area covered by the Sect Defending Array.

At the same time, on the horizon, Yang Kai spotted a faint red glow.

When these rays of light reached his eyes, Yang Kai’s spirits lifted greatly, and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning.

His guess had been right, at the deepest depths of this fourth layer there really was a fifty layer!

And that fifth layer was another Flame Area.

Yang Kai really couldn’t figure out what this Flowing Flame Sand Field was. After the passing through the first layer Flame Area, there was a treasure area, then another flame area, and so on and so forth. Thinking about it, if one were to look down from high above, they would probably see the Flowing Flame Sand Field as three broad, distinct, concentric flaming rings someone had tossed onto the ground.

Thinking so, Yang Kai’s heart jumped.

If this was really the case, then there should also be a sixth layer.

After gawking for a moment, Yang Kai couldn’t help chuckling. He hadn’t even reached the fifth layer yet, much less traversed it, yet he was already wondering about a sixth layer.

If possible, Yang Kai wanted to investigate his hypothesis, but the time he had left was somewhat short.

The further one went into the Flowing Flame Sand Field, the less space there was to move around in, and after just two days, Yang Kai found himself standing in front of the bright red barrier to the fifth layer.

Even before he entered it, Yang Kai could feel the oppressive heat in front of him and understood that it was incomparable to that of the third layer.

Yang Kai was delighted and, with a dignified expression, pushed his Saint Qi to form a protective cover over his body before stepping forward.

In just one step, Yang Kai seemed to have stepped into another world. Inside this place, fierce heatwaves crashed towards him from all directions. The Fire Attribute energy here was so dense it actually condensed into a physical substance, winding around Yang Kai’s body like a million tiny snakes.

In an instant, Yang Kai felt a stinging pain all over his skin. His entire body seemed to be on fire, and even the Saint Qi he was using to guard himself seemed to show signs of boiling.

Yang Kai’s complexion changed, and he hurriedly condensed a layer of Demonic Flame around himself.

However, even his Demonic Flames couldn’t completely resist the invasion of the ambient heat and the tiny snake-like fire auras fiercely fought against it, taking Yang Kai’s body as a battlefield, one side trying to invade, the other trying to block. An extremely fierce struggle ensued.

The Saint Qi in his meridians was literally flooding out of his pores, shocking Yang Kai greatly. Quickly pulling out two High-Rank Saint Crystals, Yang Kai held one in each hand and began rapidly absorbing energy from them.

With this rate of consumption, if he didn’t constantly supplement himself, the Saint Qi inside his body would soon run dry, and once it was exhausted, he would have to burst a drop of Golden Blood, transforming it back into Saint Qi.

On this trip to the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai had used several drops of Golden Blood, and realising its great power, he naturally didn’t want to waste it if there was another option.

Lifting his foot, Yang Kai stepped forward again, increasing his output of Saint Qi as he proceeded deeper into the fifth layer. The Saint Crystals in his hand were constantly being changed, and in just half a day, he had consumed over ten thousand of them, transforming them all into dust.

Only his intrepid physique could support such unscrupulous absorption of Saint Crystal energy, other cultivators with weaker physical bodies and meridians would have exploded themselves with such reckless actions.

His previously prepared restorative pills finally came in handy at this moment.

Yang Kai even used his Myriad Drug Liquid which had long sat idle in his Black Book Space.

Although this kind of consumption was extremely terrifying, Yang Kai wasn’t panicked at all. Even if he somehow ended up exhausting all of his Golden Blood, he could borrow power from the Divine Tree. The Divine Tree was still sleeping right now though as it was in the process of evolving, so unless absolutely necessary, Yang Kai didn’t want to disturb it.

A day later, Yang Kai was forced to stop.

Although the farther one went, the hotter the environment became and the more helpful it would be for him with refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, he had all but reached his limit. If he ventured any further, even he would be in danger.

Yang Kai furrowed his brow for a while and was just about to find a nearby place to start refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water when he heard a rumbling sound and felt the earth shudder violently.

Yang Kai’s face sank and, standing perfectly still, he ignored the damage he would suffer by doing so and released his Divine Sense to investigate his surroundings.