Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

As soon as Yang Kai used his Demon Eye of Annihilation, he immediately understood what was going on. He had accidentally stepped into the range of a Spirit Array, most likely a naturally formed Bewildering Array.

Yang Yan was extremely proficient in arranging Spirit Arrays, and Yang Kai had been around her for some time now, so he had learned some knowledge about them.

The only Spirit Array that could lead him around in circles like this was a Bewildering Array. On top of that, a Spirit Array appearing in this kind of place could not have been artificially arranged.

This Bewildering Array was incredibly large; the Saint King Realm cultivators who entered this place didn’t have the ability to arrange such a vast and profound Spirit Array, so it being naturally formed was the only possibility.

After understanding this, Yang Kai secretly felt bitter.

Yang Yan had said that artificially arranged Spirit Arrays were very different from naturally-formed Spirit Arrays. Those that were artificially arranged would always have traces one could follow and exploit while naturally-formed Spirit Arrays were like solid walls without vulnerabilities, that is, they did not have things like cores, nodes, or flaws. It was basically impossible to break a naturally-formed array by searching for its core.

Not to mention, Yang Kai wasn’t very familiar with Spirit Arrays in the first place.

The Demon Eye of Annihilation could illuminate all falsehoods and help him see through the essence of this place, but it didn’t provide him with any help breaking it.

If he wanted to break through this array, he could only rely on himself!

This was the reason why Yang Kai was feeling bitter. If Yang Yan was here, based on her understanding of Spirit Arrays, it would be easy for her to break free from this one, but by himself, Yang Kai would find this exercise far more difficult.

After a short bout of frustration, Yang Kai calmed down. Since he had stumbled into this place, his only option was to find a way out.

The most effective and appropriate way to do this was of course to tear space!

Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, so tearing space would be the best way for him to escape.

Thinking of this, Yang Kai tore a crack in space and leapt inside. Immediately after Yang Kai disappeared, the Void Crack disappeared.

A moment later, in the exact same location, another Void Crack appeared and Yang Kai emerged.

Glancing around at his surroundings, Yang Kai’s face turned black.

After tearing space and entering The Void, Yang Kai knew something was wrong, because the normally turbulent Void was actually incredibly calm and quiet. And sure enough, after tearing space to return from The Void, he found himself back where he started.

This Bewildering Array not only had the effect of misleading the senses of those who fell into it, it was even capable of blocking space! In other words, Yang Kai could not escape by tearing space.

Thinking it over for a while, Yang Kai came to the conclusion that the only way for him to escape this array now was through brute force. Since there is no other suitable method, he could only break this array forcibly; Yang Kai only hoped he had enough strength to do so otherwise he might be trapped here forever.

Making up his mind, Yang Kai opened his eyes and looked around carefully. Half an hour later, he settled on a specific location where the scenery looked a bit more illusionary than the everywhere else, hoping it was a weak spot in this Spirit Array where he could successfully break out.

Taking out the Hundred Mountains Picture, Yang Kai summoned ten peaks in one breath and smashed them against that position.

*Hong Hong Hong…*

A fierce rumbling echoed as the entire world seemed to shake.

Yang Kai paid close attention to the place he attacked with the Hundred Mountains Picture, and after a short while, he wore a pleased look. He found that under the attack of the Hundred Mountains Picture, the scenery there became even more distorted and seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

[It’s possible!] Yang Kai thought to himself as he condensed more of his Saint Qi.

But before he could attack again, his expression stiffened before filling with disappointment.

Because the illusory region had been restored to its original state almost instantly, rendering his previous attack useless.

This Bewildering Array could even repair places which were broken all on its own! This was simply a deathtrap for anyone who fell inside it.

Yang Kai grit his teeth and pushed the power of the Hundred Mountains Picture to the limit, gathering together twenty phantom mountain peaks and smashing them down all at once.

……

Half a day later, Yang Kai stared at the scenery in front of himself in dismay, clear resentment flashing across his eyes.

The resilience of this Bewildering Array far exceeded his original expectations. No matter how much strength he used or what kind of attack he launched, it would immediately repair itself. The Hundred Mountains Picture had already been taken back into his body. Twenty phantom mountain peaks were his current limit, so there was no need to try using it any further, doing so would just waste his energy.

If he couldn’t put out a single decisive attack, there was no way Yang Kai could break open this weak spot. In other words, he needed to unleash a single powerful blow, like the one Xie Yun’s launched from his evil artifact, to tear through this weak point in the Bewildering Array with absolute strength.

Yang Kai didn’t have the time to sit and refine that strange crossbow artifact, nor did he even want to refine it. Not to mention, Yang Kai estimated that even with that artifact, it would be impossible to break the Spirit Array in front of him.

He could only use his Golden Blood.

Yang Kai sighed deeply. A drop of Golden Blood was the sum total of three months of cultivation, so he was unwilling to use it unless it was absolutely necessary.

After being encased in the blood-red crystal and spending several years in deep sleep while drifting through the Starry Sky, Yang Kai had amassed a total of nearly a hundred drops of Golden Blood. Now, after having used those drops intermittently several times, and without consciously trying to replenish them, Yang Kai had about ninety drops left.

However, now was not the time to care about such things.

With a dignified expression, Yang Kai held out a finger and slowly condensed a drop of pure Golden Blood at its tip.

Suddenly, a terrifying surge of vitality from this drop of Golden Blood was revealed.

This Golden Blood was far more pure and gave off a more brilliant light than the ordinary golden blood which flowed through Yang Kai’s veins. It quietly condensed at Yang Kai’s fingertip, trembling slightly like a small golden bean.

Yang Kai thoughts flashed, and this drop of Golden Blood swiftly transformed into a small, sharp arrow that without any pause, shot out, seemingly breaking through the constraints of space, and rushed towards the weak spot in the Bewildering Array.

A golden radiance erupted; one so bright Yang Kai could barely keep his eyes open.

He was forced to close his right eye and squint his left while nervously watching the scene in front of him.

The sound of something being torn apart rang out as Yang Kai clearly saw the weak spot in the Bewildering Array pierced directly by the small golden arrow. The drop of Golden Blood then exploded and torn open this small crack, rapidly expanding it.

At the same time, the illusory scenery around Yang Kai violently twisted, the many hills and mounds of earth flickering before disappearing.

The entire Bewildering Array seemed to have been greatly affected.

Yang Kai’s face was full of joy and he was just about the rush forward when a fiery red light suddenly rushed towards him from all directions, covering up the golden radiance. On top of that, this fiery red light was rapidly repairing the tear in the Bewildering Array and it was showing signs of closing completely. It seemed this red light was specifically repairing the damage to this natural Spirit Arary.

Yang Kai immediately became anxious, he had already used a drop of Golden Blood to get this far, so how could he just stand back and allow the Bewildering Array to repair itself again?

Acting decisively, he forced out another drop of Golden Blood.

With the additional explosion of a second drop of Golden Blood, the red light was finally pushed back and melted like snowflakes under the sun, soon disappearing altogether.

Where the weak spot in the Bewildering Array once stood, a golden entrance took shape.

Yang Kai didn’t hesitate anymore and leapt through it.

After he left, the golden light gradually weakened, and the Bewildering Array repaired itself again.

Leaving his original position, Yang Kai found that he had suddenly set foot on a straight pathway. This pathway was paved with small, smooth, stone blocks. Both sides of this pathway were filled with the same fiery red weeds that Yang Kai had encountered before, but these weeds were a little different from the ones he had previously come across. The ones inside the Bewildering array seemed somewhat ill, as if they were near death, but the ones surrounding Yang Kai now had more vibrant colour and seemed to have a slight bloody air to them. Yang Kai scanned his surroundings and soon noticed many bones among these weeds.

Startled, Yang Kai immediately understood that these bones should have belonged to cultivators who had previously entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field, accidentally stumbled upon this place, became trapped and eventually died.

As for why these bones had appeared here and not inside the Bewildering Array, Yang Kai didn’t know.

While he was immersed in his shock, Yang Kai suddenly saw the weeds on both sides of the passage actually grow at a rapid pace, in the blink of an eye going from less than a meter tall to several dozen meters in height…

These long, blade-like leaves appeared soft and flexible, like long whips, and all of them swiftly struck towards Yang Kai.

Yang Kai was startled. He didn’t expect these weeds could exhibit such behaviour. A few days ago, he had taken note of the hardness and sharpness of these weeds, so even he didn’t dare block these blades of grass head on as doing so would inevitably leave scars on his body. On top of that, these blades of grass were incredibly elastic and difficult to sever, making them even more difficult to deal with.

If not for the difficulty of handling them, Yang Kai would have liked to take some of these weeds back for Yang Yan to see. Yang Yan was a strange woman who seemed to have an infinite fountain of knowledge, perhaps she would be able to recognize what these weeds were.

But now, the countless weeds on both sides of the passage had transformed into ten thousand sharp whips, setting off alarms in Yang Kai’s head.

However, before Yang Kai could even put up his defenses, a strange energy film appeared on both sides of the path and blocked all the sweeping grass blades from reaching him.

Seeing this scene, Yang Kai’s expression became strange.

He had thought that the Bewildering Array he was trapped inside of was naturally formed, and if not for his current encounter, he would still be thinking so; after all, that Bewildering Array was far too profound, to the point where even his Demon Eye of Annihilation couldn’t discover its core.

The scene in front of him though had shaken his original conjecture. It was impossible for an energy barrier that only protected this small paved channel to be naturally formed.

This was definitely artificially arranged. It was even possible that Bewildering Array was artificially arranged!

Who possessed such great ability though?

Only Saint King Realm cultivators could enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Was there a cultivator of such realm capable of arranging such a profound Spirit Array? Only someone with knowledge and skill comparable to Yang Yan could accomplish that!

But what reason would someone have for arranging such Spirit Arrays here?

While Yang Kai walked forward at a leisurely pace, he contemplated this mystery, ignoring the weeds which were still trying to attack him as if they weren’t even there.