Martial Peak

At that moment, the thick black Evil Qi began to rise at an incredible rate, like it was exploding.

Watching this, everyone couldn’t help but turn pale.

After three short breaths, this raging sea of Evil Qi had already started to approach the top of the pillars where they stood and showed no sign of slowing.

“Bad!” Tao Yang shouted, his expression completely aghast.

Everyone quickly retreated towards the centre of the plateau, fearing they might accidentally be contaminated by this potent Evil Qi.

With the Evil Spirit Spring suddenly becoming so unstable, even if they wanted to go now it was likely too late, and all of them nearly fell into a panic, having no idea what to do now.

Even the old man was also frightened by this sight; although he knew about the existence of the Evil Spirit Spring, this was still the first time he had encountered it, so, now that the situation had exceeded his knowledge, he was also at a loss about what he should do.

Seeing that the Evil Qi would sooner or later engulf them, the old man knew that staying put and waiting this crisis out was no longer an option, roaring angrily as he cursed his rotten luck, he quickly glanced around at his juniors and the remaining Free and Unfettered Sect disciples and loudly shouted, “If you don’t want to die, follow me!”

Done talking, the old man unleashed a vicious palm strike, forced open a gap in the surrounding Evil Spirit’s, quickly wrapped his True Qi around his four juniors, and then shot off the pillar towards Yang Kai’s direction.

The few Free And Unfettered Sect males also hurried to keep up, using all kinds of Martial Skills and artifacts to protect themselves and temporarily safeguard their lives.

Yang Kai remained indifferent. Narrowing his eyes as he watched the old man rapidly approach them, his eyes flashed a ruthless light.

The purpose of the old man flying in their direction was self-evident.

A moment later, this entire space would be flooded by the Evil Spirit Spring’s Evil Qi, by that time, the high pillar where Yang Kai and his group were located would be the only safe haven.

With the Light Curtain formed from twenty overlapping layers of True Yang Yuan Qi, it would hopefully be enough to resist the Evil Qi’s corrosion.

In this life or death crisis, the old man took decisive action.

Flying right up beside them, the old man did not immediately take action and instead called out to Yang Kai and plead, “Little friend, although there are many unpleasant matters between this old master and yourself, but at this time, the old master still must ask you if you can open a few spaces for us?”

Yang Kai just gazed at him cynically, lightly quipping, “Old man, don’t you see that our side is full?”

The old man’s expression immediately sank, as he hurriedly said, “That’s why this old master is asking you to open up a few seats! With the Evil Spirit Spring acting up like this, no one here knows what will happen next. If you have this old master, an Immortal Ascension Master’s help, you’ll have a higher chance of survival, right? The strength of the different members of your group varies greatly, you should simply kick out a few of the weaker ones! In this life or death crisis, one should know who they can use and who they can discard!”

“Senior...” Yu Qing urgently cut in, clearly understanding what the old man’s meaning was. He had likely not planned to allow all of their Free And Unfettered Sect disciples to remain, which naturally sent him into a panic.

Of course, no one here was a fool, and all of them understood, as they quickly directed angry glares towards the old man. How could they not figure out that this old dog was intending to sacrifice some of them so he could live?

However, Yang Kai just sneered and lightly shook his head, “I’m fine with the way things are right now, so I’ll have to reject Senior’s gracious offer!”

“Arrogant Junior! You’ve brought this upon yourself!” The old man angrily shouted.

With the Evil Qi still rising higher and higher, he had no more time to waste.

“This old master by himself is insufficient! You Free And Unfettered Sect brats help this old master drive them out then we can all occupy this light shield! It’s our best chance to survive!” The old man commanded

“Good!” Yu Qing replied overjoyed, not hesitating in the slightest as he readily agreed.

Everyone gathered atop the platform’s expression became dignified. Even if this old man was a shameless bastard, he was still an Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage master, none of them knew if they, with their True Element Boundary cultivations, could repel him.

Only Yang Kai continued smiling lightly, as he stared back scornfully at the old man, seeming to ridicule him with his gaze.

*Boom ... * A fire dragon phantom suddenly sprang up from the pillar, and flew towards the old man, which seemed to signal the start of their battle.

Yang Kai’s True Yang Yuan Qi curtain atop the high pillar had now become the only safe haven in this entire cavern, and obviously no one was willing to surrender it, so facing the old man’s rampant aggression, naturally no one held back their strength.

The next moment, a variety of Martial Skills and artifact strikes illuminated the dark cave.

The old man’s group didn’t back down either and stuck out fully as well.

But after only a single confrontation, everyone atop the platform frowned.

The old man, the sole Immortal Ascension Boundary master here, had single handedly intercepted all of their attacks.

Although this caused the old man no small amount of effort, he nevertheless had successfully blunted their full assault.

Meanwhile, the True Element cultivators behind him remained free to attack and quickly suppressed Yang Kai’s group.

Everyone atop the pillar couldn’t help paling; with an Immortal Ascension Boundary defending before them, even if they wanted to kill the weaker ones behind him they were unable to.

In a short time, the sea of Evil Qi had again risen a lot and would soon swallow up anyone outside the Light Curtain.

The old man’s four juniors and the Free And Unfettered Sect disciples also went all out, pushing their True Qi to the limit as they relentlessly attacked.

As for the old man himself, he was like a hovering hawk, with his gaze firmly locked onto Yang Kai. His intuition told him that this unusual young man was still concealing his full strength and would certainly use his hidden methods soon.

If it were normal circumstances, he would proceed carefully, probing this kid’s depths once or twice lest he find himself suddenly taken by surprise, but in this moment of crisis, how could he still have the leisure to do so?

Condensing his True Qi while pushing his hand forward, the old man sent out a huge palm towards Yang Kai in an attempt to end things with this single strike.

Yang Kai coldly snorted and pointed his finger forward to condense a flaming red shield in front of himself.

*Boom...*

As the old man’s palm landed on the Yang Liquid shield, although the shield instantly fragmented, it still managed to block the blow.

Not waiting for the old man to recover, an invisible wave of energy burst out from Yang Kai’s mind. Silent and undetectable, it bypassed the old man’s blockade and arrived at the crowd of juniors behind him instantly.

The old man’s expression stiffened, in that moment, he had faintly perceived a foreign Divine Sense sweep past him.

Not understanding what had happened, he quickly turned back only to see a burst of purple light suddenly appear behind him.

This purple fan-shaped halo immediately engulfed the old man’s four disciples and the Free And Unfettered Sect disciples.

Having been struck by this silent strike, these True Element Boundary juniors suddenly trembled, and their faces contorted in pain.

In the next breath, another burst of purple light emerged...

Followed by a third ...

“AH!!” Yu Qing clutched his head and screamed in pain as he staggered. His True Qi’s circulation was thrown into disorder, which sent him plummeting from the air.

When Yu Qing’s body fell into the sea of Evil Qi, a burst of sizzling noises burst out as his body was quickly corroded. His flesh and blood festered as it melted, and soon only bleached bones were left behind.

In addition to Yu Qing, all of the other Free And Unfettered Sect disciples and the old man’s four juniors also shared similar fates. Some of them fell to their deaths while others were ripped apart by nearby Evil Spirits.

In the blink of an eye, the old man’s group had been reduced to him alone. A look of absolute shock was plastered all over his face.

*Deng deng deng deng...*

The old man backpedalled hurriedly and stared at Yang Kai in horror, “A Soul Skill!”

Yang Kai simply smiled back at the old man brightly.

“Impossible!” The old man’s face looked like he had seen some kind of unfathomable monster, and he was absolutely unable to believe what was happening even though it was right in front of his eyes.

This youth was no doubt a True Element Boundary Sixth Stage cultivator, yet just now he had definitely used a Soul Skill! Moreover, this Soul Skill was quite familiar to the old man; it was clearly the attack the Soul Type Evil Spirit had used just now, and the only difference between them was that scope of this youth’s attack was somewhat narrower.

“Correct, a Soul Skill!” Yang Kai stared at the old man provocatively. “From that Special Evil Spirit Essence. Old dog, face your death!”

“No... that’s impossible!” The old man still hadn’t recovered from his shock. Although the three halos hadn’t affected him much, nevertheless his Soul had taken some minor damage, which caused a faint lingering pain in his head, “Even if you obtained that Soul Skill from that Special Essence, without first cultivating out your Divine Sense you couldn’t have used it!”

Muttering these words, the old man’s eyes flashed brilliantly, and he pointed towards Yang Kai as he stuttered, “Could it be... that lump of essence allowed you to awaken your Divine Sense!?”

“Well, something like that.” Yang Kai snickered and didn’t bother to explain any further.

In truth, Yang Kai had begun cultivating his Divine Sense a long time ago, and by now his Soul and Spiritual Energy were by no means weak, or else he wouldn’t have been able to use this new Soul Skill of his three times in a row while still looking calm and relaxed

Even if it was an ordinary initial stage Immortal Ascension Boundary master it would normally be impossible to cast such a powerful Soul Skill three times consecutively.

Atop the high pillar, all of Yang Kai’s comrades also couldn’t hide their shock, and none of them thought that at this critical moment Yang Kai would pull out such unbelievable methods to once again turn the tide.

Although most of them had only encountered Yang Kai recently, but in this short period of time they had traveled and fought together, they had watched him repeatedly reveal unfathomable skills and phenomenal strength over and over again, as he frequently produced what could only be described as miracles one after another.

Everyone knew that if they hadn’t come across Yang Kai on this trip to the Evil Cavern, they all would have likely died a long time ago.

Even if he wasn’t their life’s benefactor, Yang Kai’s immense and profound strength alone was enough for everyone present to secretly swear to themselves to befriend him, or at the very least never become his enemy.

The old man stared down at the Evil Spirit Spring painfully for a moment; the four juniors he had so desperately protected all this time had all just died like that, naturally his hatred towards Yang Kai had reached an extreme level now.

His expression becoming incomparably cold. He hesitated for a while before suddenly turning away and roaring, “Little brat, you better survive this so that one day this old master can flay your skin and crush your bones!”

Even if Yang Kai had somehow mastered a Soul Skill, the old man still didn’t fear him.

In the old man’s opinion, the only thing here worthy of his attention was the Evil Spirit Spring below!

Unable to quickly occupy the Light Curtain atop Yang Kai’s pillar, the old man decided to make a run for it, hoping that now he was alone he would be able to escape with his life.

“Want to leave? You think you can get away so easily?” Yang Kai coldly shouted and directly soared off the plateau. Catching up to the old man quickly, a burst of Spiritual Energy shot out from his brow, but this force and the one he had released earlier were somewhat different, instead of an invisible wave, it was more akin to a ray of purple light that immediately sank into the old man’s head.

This was the other Soul Skill the Soul Type Evil Spirit had used before; instead of a wide range dispersed attack, this one was a focused strike. While the two were similar in nature, their uses were quite different.

Obviously, the old man hadn’t expected Yang Kai to give chase, much less use a second, more potent Soul Skill against him, which caught him off guard. As the purple light struck his soul, the old man’s body crumpled and fell, and half of his body immediately submerged into the thick roiling Evil Qi below.