Martial Peak
chapter-2461

Zhang Hao and the others were overjoyed, thinking that Yang Kai had acquiesced. Their movements immediately became more rapid, but just as the three passed through the Void Crack, Yang Kai suddenly clenched his hand.

Immediately, the wide-open Void Crack closed up as quickly as a flash of lightning.

Caught by surprise, the bodies of the two unknown cultivators were severed in half, their blood and internal organs spilling out of their bodies as their auras rapidly disappeared. The entire picture was too ghastly to even look at.

On the other hand, Zhang Hao reacted the quickest and withdrew at the critical moment, escaping from this lethal blow.

After regaining his footing, Zhang Hao took a sidelong glance with a lingering fear. Only then did he turn back to Yang Kai and say, “You, you really want to kill us!”

Yang Kai calmly glanced at him before stating, “No one who has ever provoked this Young Master has had a good end!”

“Don’t be too arrogant! I, Zhang Hao, am a Holy Son of Brahma Holy Land! Don’t think that I’m afraid of you!” Zhang Hao roared, putting up a brave front.

Yang Kai indifferently looked at him, “Are you done?”

Zhang Hao was startled as he asked in shock, “What are you going to do?”

“Since you’re done, then you can be on your way!” Saying so, Yang Kai waved his hand and the surrounding Void Turbulence started surging towards Zhang Hao, trying to envelop him. In an instant, he was completely surrounded and unable to move.

Zhang Hao’s expression drastically changed as he desperately circulated his Source Qi to struggle free, but he couldn’t get rid of the strange currents. On the contrary, the more he struggled, the deeper he fell. Suddenly, his face paled as he looked at Yang Kai and begged in a trembling voice, “Let me go, I’m willing to pay any price. I’ll even hand you my Soul Brand.”

Handing his Soul Brand over meant he would be at Yang Kai’s beck and call in the future. He would become Yang Kai’s slave. If he was putting forward this condition as the Holy Son of Brahma Holy Land, it was quite evident how pressured he was.

But at this critical moment of life and death, Zhang Hao just wanted to survive, so how could he care about other things?

“Your strength is too low, what’s the use of keeping you?” Yang Kai slightly lifted his hand causing the local Space Principles to fluctuate. Suddenly, countless tiny Void Cracks appeared around Zhang Hao. They were densely packed and too numerous to count.

“Strength is too low…” Zhang Hao looked dumbfounded. It was the greatest insult of his life. Yang Kai, too, was a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator, their cultivations the same, yet he was disdained as too weak to matter.

Having become angry out of shame, Zhang Hao hysterically shouted, “I’ll fight it out with you!”

Saying so, his face flushed red as his Source Qi chaotically started circulating and an extremely dangerous aura immediately emanated from him.

Yang Kai’s expression sank at the sight of this. He coldly snorted and declared, “You want to self-destruct? Not a chance!”

*Xiu Xiu Xiu…*

One after another, the countless tiny Void Cracks flew towards Zhang Hao as if they had been bestowed with life.

After the dense and continuous slicing sounds, Zhang Hao froze in place. There was a dull look on his face as his vitality rapidly dissipated. Also, the dangerous aura which had been emanating from him died down.

After a short while, Zhang Hao’s entire figure fell into countless pieces with a soft bang, scattering about the void before being swallowed up by the surging turbulence.

As Zhang Xian had asked before, Zhang Hao was really torn into ten thousand pieces.

A six-pointed Star Seal flew out from where he once stood and rushed straight into the back of Yang Kai’s hand. The next moment, it turned into specks of starlight as it was absorbed by the seven-pointed Star Seal.

After Zhang Hao was killed, Yang Kai finally breathed out in relief. His depressed mood was slightly lifted.

He stood in his spot as a deep furrow appeared on his forehead, thinking about the information Yin Le Sheng had given to him.

Xiao Xiao actually went to that place! The notion had never even crossed his mind.

However, there were pros and cons of going there. Yang Kai was always worried that Xiao Xiao would be chased and attacked by other cultivators, but if he went there, that worry became irrelevant as it was rare for cultivators to set foot into that place.

However, that place was fraught with dangers, so it was uncertain if Xiao Xiao was still safe.

[It seems I still have to make a trip to the Eastern Territory.]

Yang Kai secretly decided that after he was done with the affairs of the Shattered Star Sea, he would set out to search for Xiao Xiao.

After having made up his mind, Yang Kai adjusted his mood and turned his head, blazingly looking at the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

When the Mountains and Rivers Bell had first appeared, several dozen cultivators were eyeing it and had eventually chased it to this place. But now, there is only one left, leaving Yang Kai with ample time to refine the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

Qi Hai said that the Mountains and Rivers Bell was an Ancient Exotic Artifact, which was brought out by the Yuan Ding Great Emperor from the Ancient Wild Lands. If Yang Kai could refine it, this trip to the Shattered Star Sea would have been worthwhile.

However, refining such an artifact wasn’t as simple as it looked.

Yang Kai didn’t even know how to refine it, so he could only try the method mentioned by Qi Hai.

The Yuan Ding Great Emperor had survived eighty-one knells from this bell in order to gain the Artifact Spirit’s approval, allowing him to bring it out from the Ancient Wild Lands. Yang Kai had no choice but to imitate him.

Considering this, Yang Kai took a deep breath then adjusted his state to his best before walking towards the Mountains and Rivers Bell step by step.

For some unknown reason, the Mountains and Rivers Bell’s radiance was restrained, and even the dense and mysterious runes which once flowed across its surface were no longer visible. It looked no different from an ordinary broken bell now, to the point that if one threw it into the crowd, no one would even bother to take a glance at it.

But it still gave Yang Kai the feeling of a sleeping dragon that would let out a Heaven-shaking roar once it was disturbed.

After a short while, Yang Kai came to the front of the Mountains and Rivers Bell. To his surprise, the Mountains and Rivers Bell didn’t show any movement.

Holding his breath and focusing his entire attention, Yang Kai carefully reached out and stroked the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

The moment Yang Kai’s palm came into contact with the Mountains and Rivers Bell, though, it shook as a Heaven-shaking and earth-shattering toll rang in Yang Kai’s mind. This ring was filled with an ancient and desolate aura that made Yang Kai dizzy in a flash. He felt as if he had been brought to a savage pre-history era by the torrent of time.

In his mind, inexplicable scenes appeared one after another.

In those images, there were scenes of the Heavens and Earth collapsing, astral winds whipping about, and tsunamis sweeping over the seas. It was as if the end of the world had come.

There were strong and burly naked giants so tall that their heads reached the sky. They proudly walked the land, and wherever they went, every living being would retreat.

There were early cultivators, who could move the mountains and shift the seas. They could fly through the sky and move through the earth. They used their powerful Divine Abilities to fight against the surrounding disasters as they sought for a slim chance of survival.

Countless Ancient Divine Spirits fought with each other, seizing others’ territories, dying the ground red. When they fought, the worlds shattered, and universes were flipped upside down.

The world was changing all the time, and in a flash, it seemed like millions of years had passed.

Yang Kai let out a grunt as he felt as if he was struck by a mountain. Spurting a mouthful of blood, he was sent flying back over ten thousand metres through the Void before he regained his footing. His face was pale as a ghost and his aura was in turmoil.

After finally stabilizing himself, Yang Kai finally sat down cross-legged and silently healed his wounds.

The pain in his head was simply unbearable; clearly his Soul had suffered injuries. Had it been someone else, they would have been unable to recover from such injuries. All they could do was wait for their Soul to dry up and for death to take them.

Even for Yang Kai, who had the Soul Warming Lotus, recovering from these injuries wasn’t an easy task.

Not only this, Yang Kai also noticed that a strange energy had seeped into his body following the shockwave from the Mountains and Rivers Bell. This energy was vague and mysterious, but it didn’t seem to do him any harm. It was just that it gave him a strange, obscure feeling.

It took Yang Kai ten days to finally recover from the injuries to his Soul and for him to refine the wisp of strange energy. Somehow, he seemed to have gained something, but it was extremely vague; he couldn’t put his fingers on it.

After opening his eyes, Yang Kai pondered for a moment before he got up and walked towards the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

After a short while, Yang Kai was sent flying by the Mountains and Rivers Bell just like the last time. He kept spurting blood, losing half of his life right away. After standing up from being knocked down, he hurriedly healed himself.

Over the following days, Yang Kai kept repeating this process. Getting knocked down, healing, and then continuing trying to refine and subdue the Mountains and Rivers Bell…

What was most fortunate for him was that he had a strong physique and Soul, and also possessed a supreme treasure like the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus. If Yang Kai had been short of any one of these, he wouldn’t have been able to carry on with this process. Even if he wasn’t shaken to death, it might have left a hidden sequela. But his strong physique and Soul, and the Soul Warming Lotus, were enough to completely restore him each time.

And with the passage of time, the time it took to recover became shorter and shorter while the injuries he suffered gradually became lighter and lighter.

As that wisp of strange energy kept accumulating, Yang Kai gradually realized what it was.

Two months later, Yang Kai was finally able to withstand a blow from the Mountains and Rivers Bell unharmed, but he was sent flying from the next toll.

After three months, he was able to withstand five consecutive shockwaves.

After six months, twenty times.

After one year, sixty times! His progress was amazing.

One day, after a year and a half, Yang Kai was filled with an aura of vicissitudes. His clothes were tattered and his hair unkempt. What little scraps he was wearing were covered in dark, dried-up blood. He was an extremely sorry sight, but his aura was stronger and deeper than before.

Yang Kai closed his eyes and put both his hands on the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

At this moment, the Ancient Exotic Artifact had once again regained the same appearance that Yang Kai had witnessed. Its entire body was brightly shining and countless profound runes were swimming across its surface like fish, shuttling back and forth, emanating a rich and ancient aura.

One after another, reverberating knells rang in Yang Kai’s mind. Every ring was enough for a cultivator at the peak Dao Source Realm to retreat, coughing blood.

But Yang Kai was quite content even in adversity. Not only did he not feel any pain, but he also found it rewarding.

*Hong Hong Hong…*

Ten rings, twenty rings, thirty rings… Yang Kai didn’t move.

Fifty rings, sixty rings, seventy rings… His expression finally became solemn. But the situation was still under his control.

It wasn’t until the seventieth ring that his Knowledge Sea began to churn, causing his face to pale. His blood and Qi began to riot, as if he couldn’t carry on anymore.

But Yang Kai still didn’t move as he endured the violent shocks of the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

It wasn’t until the eightieth ring that Yang Kai suddenly let out a groan as blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth. The next moment, his figure slightly shook; he was almost sent flying.