Martial Peak
chapter-4291

Chapter 4291

Chapter 4291 – Competition

Yang Kai excitedly said, “Sounds good! Hurry up and tell me how to refine the Blood Monster Divine Palace.”

The Artifact Spirit said, “You must first swear a Dao Oath to obey me in the future.”

Yang Kai snarled furiously, “How dare a trivial Artifact Spirit speak so arrogantly? You truly don’t know your place!” [Sure enough; this place is a den of rats and snakes. Blood Monster Divine Monarch was not a good thing during his lifetime, so it makes sense that the Artifact Spirit born from the Blood Monster Divine Palace wouldn’t be good either. I can’t believe he wants to control me.]

“Don’t you want the Blood Monster Divine Palace? Don’t you want the Blood Monster Cave Heaven?” The Artifact Spirit looked at Yang Kai curiously, seeming not to understand why Yang Kai would refuse him.

Yang Kai coldly snorted, “What is there in this vast world that can compare to my freedom?”

The Artifact Spirit said, “If you can refine the Blood Monster Divine Palace, then everything in the Blood Monster Cave Heaven will be under your control. You will have endless resources at your fingertips. With enough time, you might even grow to rival the heights of my Master. What is losing a little bit of your freedom in comparison? Besides, I won’t make you do anything that will trouble you even if you swear the Dao Oath. I just want to protect myself.”

Yang Kai looked at the Artifact Spirit in surprise, “You even understand the art of temptation! It looks like your sentience is not that low.” Shaking his head, he continued, “But, you don’t need to waste your efforts on me. I cannot agree with your condition.”

There was no guarantee that he would die even if Black Crow Divine Monarch refined the Blood Monster Divine Palace. On the contrary, his life would be forfeited the moment he agreed to this Artifact Spirit’s condition.

The Artifact Spirit scowled deeply.

Yang Kai said, “Black Crow Divine Monarch was a great enemy of your Master. If he is allowed to refine the Blood Monster Divine Palace, do you think he will tolerate your existence? It’s a given that he will immediately wipe out your sentience. If not for that, you would not have come to me on your own. Since you need my help, then don’t bother trying to force such nonsensical conditions on me. Why don’t we cooperate instead?”

The Artifact Spirit asked, “How do we cooperate?”

Yang Kai relaxed slightly when he saw the Artifact Spirit’s attitude. This Artifact Spirit might have some measure of sentience, but he was not a living creature. Seeing as he could ask this question though, then there was room for negotiation.

“Take me to Hei Ya. I will help you to stop him from refining.”

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to stop him.” The Artifact Spirit shook his head disbelieving.

“If I don’t try, how will you know?” Yang Kai looked at the Artifact Spirit, “Compared to standing here waiting for your death, why don’t you take a gamble instead?”

The Artifact Spirit fell silent for a while and only after a long time passed did he respond, “Come with me.”

While saying that, he drifted in a certain direction at an extremely high speed.

Yang Kai did not hesitate and quickly followed.

The Artifact Spirit was born from the Blood Monster Divine Palace, so it was only natural that he knew this place better than anybody else. Yang Kai followed closely behind him, twisting and turning inside the various halls and corridors.

After travelling for a whole quarter hour, Yang Kai suddenly found himself inside a Grand Hall. The Grand Hall was completely empty, with only a Grand Array glowing faintly on the ground. At this moment, a figure was sitting cross-legged at one corner of the Grand Array. Who else could it be but Black Crow Divine Monarch who had taken possession of Zhou Yi’s body?

Blood mist was spreading out from Black Crow Divine Monarch’s body. The crimson red Blood Qi frantically expanded outward, trying to fill the patterns of the Grand Array. Following his unrelenting actions, the entire Blood Monster Divine Palace rumbled in response.

With a single glance, Yang Kai knew that he could not allow Black Crow Divine Monarch to finish refining the Grand Array in this place. Once Black Crow Divine Monarch finished, then control of the Blood Monster Divine Palace would fall into his hands.

It was obvious that Black Crow Divine Monarch had been refining the Grand Array for some time now. At this moment, approximately 10% of the Grand Array had been taken over by him. The places where he refined were filled with blood mist while the rest of the area was still dull.

Nevertheless, Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this situation. He was not too late yet. Even if he rushed over, there was nothing he could do to stop Black Crow Divine Monarch if too much progress had already been made in the refinement process.

“Artifact Spirit, how dare you disrupt this Monarch’s plans!? The first thing I’m going to do when I finish refining this Blood Monster Divine Palace is to extinguish your Soul!” Black Crow Divine Monarch immediately snapped hatefully when he looked up to see Yang Kai and the Artifact Spirit. After saying that, he turned to Yang Kai and snarled through gritted teeth, “Boy, you’re such a persistent little bastard! Why do you keep getting in this Monarch’s way!? Damn you!”

“Enough nonsense, Hei Ya! Hand over your life!” Yang Kai shouted. Lifting a hand, he summoned the Azure Dragon Spear. A black hole the size of a fist swirled above the tip of the spear, containing Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering power. When the spear thrust out, everything around it collapsed.

Rupture!

Black Crow Divine Monarch’s expression changed slightly and the layer of blood mist surrounding his body immediately became denser. At the same time, the area around him turned into a Blood Sea.

Yang Kai plunged into the Blood Sea and fervently attacked with everything he had; however, he could not tell North from South or even up from down inside the Blood Sea. He was unable to determine Black Crow Divine Monarch’s location, much less kill him. In the end, he rushed out of the Blood Sea with an extremely ugly expression after attacking fruitlessly for some time.

Black Crow Divine Monarch’s mocking voice came out from within the Blood Sea, “Junior, you don’t not know the immensity of Heaven and Earth! You overestimate yourself just because you’re a little capable! Your little tricks are nothing more than pitiful tricks in this Monarch’s eyes. If you want to play so much, then this Monarch will play with you. You better play to your heart’s content!”

The Blood Sea squirmed and a large number of Blood Crow’s charged out from it, clawing loudly. The noise they made was extremely distracting as they swooped down on Yang Kai in an overwhelming manner.

Yang Kai quickly raised his spear and thrust out rapidly. Blood Crows after Blood Crows exploded into blood mist, but they could not be killed completely.

On the contrary, Black Crow Divine Monarch did not stop refining the Grand Array during the battle with Yang Kai. In fact, his blood mist continued to spread towards the middle of the Grand Array at even greater speed!

“What you’re doing is not working.” The Artifact Spirit spoke up from the side, “Nobody can stop him anymore once he finishes refining the Grand Array.”

How could Yang Kai not know that forceful methods were ineffective? It was just that he was currently riding a tiger and had no other solutions to the problem at hand.

“Quickly enter the Grand Array to compete with him for the right of control over the Grand Array,” the Artifact Spirit added.

Yang Kai grimly replied, “It looks like that’s the only way!”

With a flicker of his body, Yang Kai swept out his spear and turned countless Blood Crows into mere splattered blood. Then, he arrived at the opposite corner of the Grand Array in a flash. His Divine Sense surged and burrowed into the Grand Array as he frantically began refining it.

Upon seeing Yang Kai’s actions, how could Black Crow Divine Monarch allow this situation to continue? He controlled the countless Blood Crows to madly swarm Yang Kai.

However, Yang Kai was as steady as a rock. Separating his consciousness, he continued refining the Grand Array while simultaneously dealing with the Blood Crows. Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was immensely powerful; moreover, he also had the support of a Supreme Treasure like the Soul Warming Lotus. Hence, it was not difficult for him to do two things at once. It was just that he could not move once he started refining the Grand Array, so he could only stand there and become a target for the Blood Crows. This enraged him greatly!

On opposite sides of the Grand Array, Black Crow Divine Monarch and Yang Kai sat. They were both competing for the right of control over the Grand Array. The person who succeeded in completely refining the Grand Array would have total control over the Blood Monster Divine Palace.

As the Blood Monster Divine Palace was the core of the Blood Monster Cave Heaven, controlling the Blood Monster Divine Palace was equivalent to controlling the Blood Monster Cave Heaven. It could be said that the lives of the natives and Monster Beasts, as well as all the people who entered the Blood Monster Cave Heaven, were resting on Yang Kai’s shoulders alone.

However, Yang Kai’s expression soon turned ugly. That was because he discovered that Black Crow Divine Monarch was much faster at refining the Grand Array compared to him.

The blood mist had already occupied 20% of the Grand Array in such a short amount of time. It would not take more than a few more hours for Black Crow Divine Monarch to completely refine it. In the first place, he had begun refining before Yang Kai. This increase in speed clearly indicated that Hei Ya was also working hard to move faster. Thus, it would be difficult for Yang Kai to catch up to him at this rate.

Yang Kai gritted his teeth and yelled, “Artifact Spirit, help me!”

The Artifact Spirit shook his head and said, “There’s nothing I can do. Although I was born from this place, my Master has restricted what I can do.”

Yang Kai was so furious that he nearly spat blood, “Then, why were you shamelessly boasting that you can give me this world earlier!?”

He thought that he could easily refine the Blood Monster Divine Palace if he cooperated with the Artifact Spirit. Only now did he realise that he was greatly mistaken.

The Artifact Spirit said, “Although I cannot help you, I can explain the mysteries of the Grand Array to you. Whether or not you can comprehend these mysteries will depend entirely on you.”

“Explain them then!”

...

The Artifact Spirit immediately began teaching, while Yang Kai listened attentively. By combining the information with the situation in front of him, there was no doubt that his refining speed improved greatly; even so, it was still difficult for him to catch up to Black Crow Divine Monarch’s progress.

As time passed, the Grand Array was gradually flooded with two different colours. One was Black Crow Divine Monarch’s crimson while the other was Yang Kai’s black. Nevertheless, it was very obvious that the area occupied by Black Crow Divine Monarch was much larger than Yang Kai’s. In this huge Grand Array, Black Crow Divine Monarch occupied a little more than 60% of the territory while Yang Kai only occupied some 30% or so.

At the beginning, things had remained somewhat peaceful when they were both refining separately, but once all the parts of the Grand Array had been filled with their respective energies, a clash between them would become inevitable.

Looking down from above, the Grand Array that controlled the Blood Monster Divine Palace was like a large plate. Black Crow Divine Monarch currently held some 65% of the plate while Yang Kai held the rest. If they wanted to occupy the entire plate, then they would first have to drive out their opponent’s power.

When their powers bordered on each other, Yang Kai’s body stiffened. He could feel an immense force rumbling towards him from the opposite side, giving him the feeling that the opposing force was unstoppable. Be that as it may, he had no choice but to defend even if it was futile. He hurriedly urged the part of the Grand Array that he controlled and viciously slammed his energy forward.

*Pu...*

Yang Kai spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. On the other hand, Black Crow Divine Monarch just swayed slightly in response.

In this collision, who was stronger was abundantly clear. Black Crow Divine Monarch had obviously occupied the absolute advantage. This was not something that could be helped. The two of them were currently fighting with their respective control over the Grand Array, it had nothing to do with their personal strength.

For that reason, Black Crow Divine Monarch was going all out. Even the Blood Crows that had been pestering Yang Kai all this while vanished without a trace. It could be seen that he had no time to care about anything else.

During their first clash, Yang Kai clearly felt that a part of his territory had been lost. Black Crow Divine Monarch’s energy continuously crept in his direction and gradually occupied the territory that he controlled previously.

Seeing this, Black Crow Divine Monarch laughed wildly, “Junior, stop being stubborn. Obediently accept your death! It will save you some pain!”

...

Yang Kai gritted his teeth and ignored the other party.

Black Crow Divine Monarch coldly snorted, “Stubborn fool!”

While speaking, he controlled the power of the Grand Array he controlled and it slammed towards Yang Kai once more.

Even though Yang Kai had prepared himself in advance and used all his strength to defend, he was still overwhelmed. At the same time, he lost another part of the Grand Array that he controlled. It gave Black Crow Divine Monarch a chance to take further control of the Grand Array, allowing his progress to reach 70%.

[I can’t let this continue any longer. Although I still control 30% of the Grand Array, it will only be a matter of time before I am completely overtaken by this Old Dog. If that happens, there will be no hope left.]