Martial Peak
chapter-3407

Chapter 3407, Sneaking Away at the Critical Juncture

“The Demon Race is on the march,” Gao Xue Ting replied.

Yang Kai frowned and asked, “If the Demon Race is about to attack, prepare for battle. What are you doing here?”

Gao Xue Ting pointed ahead, “They are trying to escape from the city!”

Yang Kai furrowed his brow, “At this time?”

Yang Kai knew a little about the situation of Tiger Roar City. Although there were quite a few Emperor Realm Masters present, the number of cultivators who could fight was definitely not large. Furthermore, there was only one Third-Order Emperor present, Li Jiao, and barely 50,000 men and women in the city who could be mobilized for its defence. On the other hand, as many as 400,000 Demon Race soldiers were besieging them.

With the odds against them, Tiger Roar City would have to depend on its protective Array to have any hope of victory.

In other words, they couldn’t afford to lose or compromise the City Defending Array.

Yet at this critical juncture, when the Demon Race was about to attack, there were still people who wanted to flee the city! Wasn’t that tantamount to tearing a giant hole in the most important part of Tiger Roar City’s defence? Although the Array could be partially opened and then closed again, in the middle of a fight, who knows what could happen in the brief time the array was lowered?

More importantly, this was the time when the cultivators of Tiger Roar City needed to stand united to defend against the enemy. If a large group of people fled the city now, wouldn’t it throw the entire defence into chaos?

[No wonder Gao Xue Ting mobilized a team of Azure Sun Temple disciples to block these people’s way. Gao Xue Ting clearly knows that the defensive Array cannot be opened at this critical moment.]

“Who the hell are they?” Yang Kai swept over a glance at the group of people with a look of disgust on his face. The number of people wasn’t too large, just a few hundred, but many of them were Dao Source Realm cultivators. Fortunately, there were Emperors among them.

“The Five Great Families of Tiger Roar City. All of them are the members of the Five Great Families!”

“Five Great Families?” Yang Kai coldly snorted. Families like these were innumerable throughout the Star Boundary and generally speaking, they occupied good positions in their respective cities. They were used to doing whatever they wanted and probably had the intention of fleeing the city from the start, it was just that they didn’t make up their mind until the Demon Race started moving aggressively. Obviously, these cowards felt that Tiger Roar City was doomed, so they wanted to escape and save themselves before the battle even began.

“Open the Array!”

“Quickly open the Array and let us leave, otherwise don’t blame us for being impolite!”

“Why are you still trying to reason with them, if they don’t open the Array, just snatch the Array Jade from them!”

The group of people standing under the city wall kept shouting at a Dao Source Realm cultivator atop the city wall. That Dao Source Realm cultivator should be one of the people presiding over the City Defending Array as he was holding an Array Jade which acted as a controller. At this moment, he was looking down from the city wall with a confused look on his face. He kept bowing with his fists cupped in front, “Patriarchs, please don’t make things difficult for this Old Master. If you wish to leave the city, I ask you to go see Sir City Lord. As long as you bring this Old Master Sir City Lord’s decree, this Old Master will immediately open the Array; otherwise, this Old Master’s hands are tied.”

“The Demon Race is attacking, so Sir City Lord is busy dealing with other matters, how would he have the time to take care of us? Stop talking nonsense. This King will give you ten breaths of time to open the Array, otherwise don’t blame us for forgetting our old friendship!”

Just as this man stated this, the hundreds of people showed a covetous gaze, giving the impression that if the old man didn’t open the Array, they would really attack.

The face of the old man presiding over the Array defending the city greatly changed. Although he too was a Dao Source Realm cultivator, how could he fight against so many members of the Five Great Families? If they really attacked, he would perhaps be reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.

A hint of hesitation flashed on his face, though he had already made up his mind. [If I open the Spirit Array and let them leave, although Sir City Lord will punish me after knowing about it, it’s still better than being killed by them.]

He thus clenched the Array Jade and began to push his Divine Sense, but just as he was about to open the Array, a figure suddenly appeared beside him like a ghost, raising his hand, and patting his shoulder.

The old man was shocked and turned his head to look at this newcomer, seeing a brave and heroic young man standing by his side. Before he could react though, the Array Jade was already in the young man’s hand.

The old man was terrified when he saw this as he realized this young man’s cultivation was vastly superior to his own; otherwise, he would have at least noticed when the Array Jade was snatched by the other party. Nervous now, the old man hurriedly asked, “You are…”

“High Heaven Palace’s Palace Master, Yang Kai.” Yang Kai glanced at him and calmly stated, “Old Sir, you may step back now and allow this King to handle this matter.”

The old man’s eyes lit up after hearing this, feeling like a stone had just been lifted from his heart, allowing him to finally relax.

Yang Kai’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was loud enough for the hundreds of people below the city wall to hear clearly. Seeing the Array Jade fall into Yang Kai’s hands, the hundreds of people down below furrowed their brows. The few leading the group glanced at each other before a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion stepped forward and greeted with cupped fists, “Greetings, Senior Yang.”

Yang Kai lightly nodded but didn’t reply, figuring that this man was one of the Patriarchs of the so-called Five Great Families.

Yang Kai’s unceremonious stance made the hundreds of people down below unhappy, but they all knew he was qualified to act dismissive of them; after all, he was a Palace Master and an Emperor Realm cultivator. As such, they didn’t dare to show the slightest dissatisfaction. Instead, the sallow looking man advocated in an extremely polite manner, “Senior, we, the members of the Five Great Families, wish to leave Tiger Roar City to seek a chance of survival in this chaotic world. I ask Senior Yang to open the way for us.”

Yang Kai, playing with the Array Jade in his hand, indifferently asked back, “You want to leave Tiger Roar City to seek a chance for survival? Do you even know the current situation outside?”

The middle-aged man shook his head and replied, “I don’t know, but I know that Tiger Roar City is in danger. If we don’t leave now, I’m afraid we won’t be able to leave later.”

Yang Kai added, “Since you don’t know, let me tell you. The Demon Race Army has invaded the Star Boundary, occupying more than half of the Western Territory. The frontline now stretches for tens, if not hundreds of millions of kilometres. Countless cities are surrounded by the Demons, and even in the short while we have been talking, fierce battles have been raging in many places. Even if you all leave Tiger Roar City, you might not be able to get very far before falling into the hands of the Demons. At that time, your life will be worse than death. It would be better to stay here and fight against the Demon Race than venture out into the wilderness.”

Everyone’s expression changed after hearing this as they really were ignorant of what was going on outside. The Demon Race had started their invasion less than two months ago, and news travelled even slower than usual in such chaotic times. On the other hand, Yang Kai could freely traverse the world and had visited the cities where Li Wu Yi and the High Heaven Palace’s disciples were stationed, so he was far more knowledgeable about the current state of affairs than the others.

Naturally, everyone would be shocked after hearing that more than half of the Western Territory had been occupied from Yang Kai.

After momentarily losing his wits for a while, the sallow-faced middle-aged man forced a smile and stated, “Senior Yang, there is no need to exaggerate things just to scare others.”

Yang Kai scoffed, “You think this Kind is speaking nonsense just to scare you? Is that necessary? Every word this Palace Master has spoken is true. Believe it or don’t, it is your choice.”

The middle-aged man remained silent for a while before he stated, “Even so, we still wish to leave Tiger Roar City.”

“Do you still insist on leaving?” Yang Kai grimly gazed at him.

Seeing this look, the middle-aged man’s palms became sweaty but he summoned up his courage and nodded.

“I’m afraid things won’t go according to your wishes,” Yang Kai coldly snorted. “The Demon Race is attacking, and the City Defending Array is of vital importance to the upcoming battle. Before the battle has ended, no one may leave the city. If you want to leave, we can discuss it after the fighting has stopped!”

As soon as he said this, a furious shout immediately came from the group below, “When the battle is over, Tiger Roar City would have already fallen! We won’t even be alive to discuss anything!”

Yang Kai immediately looked up and found that the person shouting was a luxuriously dressed young man sitting on a tall mount that resembled a horse. Who knows which family’s Young Master he was, and Yang Kai didn’t really care, only responding in an icy tone, “The Demon Race is invading the Western Territory, plunging the common people into an abyss of chaos and suffering. We, the cultivators of the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territory all gathered under the summons of the Great Emperors to aid you in holding back the Demon Race Army. We do not request anything in return, nor do we expect you to repay us, but we are still putting our lives on the line today, yet you, the native cultivators of the Western Territory, don’t even want to make an effort to protect your homes? Good, if that is the extent of your courage and honour, so be it; however, you are now actually trying to flee when the enemy is already upon us? If it was just that, this Palace Master may still have tolerated your actions; after all, everyone is free to choose their own course in life, and it is human nature to cherish life and fear death, but if your cowardice affects the morale of the army and lowers our chances of successfully defending the city, that is truly intolerable! If you dare spout nonsense again, this King will take your dog life!”

The young man shrank his neck but still stubbornly rebuked in the next moment, “When did this Young Master seek to disrupt the morale of the army. And even if he has, do you really believe Tiger Roar City can resist the Demon Race’s army either way?”

“How dare you run your mouth! Do you really think this King won’t kill you?” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he raised his hand and grabbed the young man.

“You dare!” The middle-aged man, who had spoken earlier, immediately flew out, trying to stop Yang Kai. By the looks of it, he and the young man might be related by blood; perhaps they were even father and son.

But the middle-aged man was just a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator, no different from an ant before Yang Kai. An inexplicable force immediately sent him flying, throwing him to ground as loud panicked shouts rang out.

As the middle-aged man turned to look, his eyes immediately turned red in grief and anger. The young man riding on the tall horse had been reduced to a headless corpse with blood gushing out of his severed neck like a fountain, reaching as high as ten meters into the air. The young man’s headless corpse then swayed left and right before falling from the horse’s back.

A group of pampered Young Masters and Ladies screamed in horror, plunging the area into further chaos.

“How dare you kill my child!” The middle-aged man looked at Yang Kai with a hideous look on his face.

In Yang Kai’s hand was a severed head with bulging eyes. No one knew how this head appeared in his hand when he had clearly not moved an inch from where he stood.

Yang Kai rebuffed in a cold and grim voice after hearing this, “So what?”

The middle-aged man’s expression kept shifting like clouds before he suddenly shouted, “Kill him, attack!”

After having said this, he was the first one to charge at Yang Kai, his anger and hatred seemingly making him lose his sense temporarily. At that moment, he failed to realize just how great the gap between him and Yang Kai was while his impassioned shout and Yang Kai’s tyrannical display inspired the rest of the Five Great Families to action, their eyes turning red as they attacked in a fit of madness.

“Ants courting death,” Yang Kai, standing on the city wall, snorted with a grim expression. When hundreds of people had charged sufficiently close, he simply waved his hand.

One by one, heads flew into the air as headless corpses twitched and fell to the ground, dying the area around the city’s main gate red and filling the air with a nauseating bloody smell.

The onlooking crowd immediately sunk into silence, like cicadas in the middle of winter. They had never seen hundreds of people dying all at once. This hellish scene was enough to make them have nightmares for many days to come.

In the blink of an eye, over a hundred people had lost their lives, with the middle-aged man, who had charged first, being the first to die.

It was only at this moment that the remaining members of the Five Great Families realized the gap in strength between the two sides. The Young Masters and Young Ladies started screaming and shouting in panic while the remaining Dao Source Realm cultivators started begging for mercy.

Yang Kai’s face remained as cold as ice, though, as he turned a deaf ear to everything. He was radiating an intense murderous intent now as he made up his mind to establish his prestige here before the battle truly began.