Martial Peak

Time seemed to pass by extremely slowly.

Facing the pressure of death made everyone’s mood incredibly serious, and all of their hearts raced as cold sweat dripped down their brows.

All of them maintained a heightened state of vigilance and constantly monitored the True Yang Yuan Qi shield’s situation.

Every time one of the Light Curtain layers ruptured, a shiver was sent up everyone’s spine.

Not long after the Evil Qi Sea had enveloped them, all twenty layers of the defence shield had broken. Fortunately, Yang Kai had pre-emptively put up a new set of shields, for which everyone was immensely grateful.

As the Demonic Qi swirled around them, Evil Spirits constantly wandered about just outside the shield as massive bubbles of frigid Yin Qi welled up from below.

The temperature dropped rapidly.

Everyone inside the Light Curtain was a True Element Boundary cultivator, so with their True Qi protecting their bodies a simple chill wouldn’t affect them in the slightest. However, now those with slightly lower cultivations soon had frost developing on their hair as they began shivering from the cold, and even their breath became a visible, fine white fog.

Even the strongest of them also couldn’t help but feel chilly, and aside from Yang Kai who was indifferent to this cold, no one else could ignore it.

Outside the Light Curtain, the sea of Evil Qi had seemingly transformed into an icy hell, capable of freezing the soul of anyone who had the misfortune of straying into it.

*Dong dong...*

The pounding sound that originated from the core of Evil Spirit Spring never stopped, and instead only increased in magnitude with time until eventually every pulse shook and rattled the pillar upon which everyone stood.

*Pa pa pa...*

The giant bubbles of Yin Qi continued to burst around them one after another, stirring up all kinds of cold black evil energy.

As each True Yang Yuan Qi layer burst, Yang Kai’s expression gradually became heavier.

A little later, a series of loud thumps echoed from the Evil Spirit Spring’s core.

After this burst of sound though, everything went silent.

Everyone glanced back and forth at one another with anxiety and confusion apparent on their faces.

However, before they could figure out what was going on, a sudden surge of cold energy crashed towards them, like the frigid winds from an eternally snow capped mountain, carrying a bone chilling Yin Qi that seemed to originate from the ninth level of purgatory, which instantly caused everyone who felt it to shudder.

*Kacha...*

In an instant, the True Yang Yuan Qi shield was covered in a layer of ice, which was a seemingly impossible occurrence that left all who saw it aghast.

This frigid Yin Qi, coupled with the Demonic Qi, both smashed against the Light Curtains and doubled the pace at which they were being shaved away.

“Not good!” Cheng Ying muttered with his mouth agape and his eyes full of bitterness. Everyone was already on edge but had somehow managed to hold out hope through all of these hardships, but now this sudden change was almost like a sign that the Heavens had abandoned them.

His voice had hardly fallen though when suddenly all the Evil Qi began to flood backwards towards the core of the Evil Spirit Spring, and even the numerous Evil Spirits who floated nearby were drawn in as well.

Instead of an erupting spring, it now seemed like a giant whirlpool had formed, which devouring everything inside the Evil Cavern.

Countless piercing howls rang out as all of these Evil Spirits struggled desperately.

Even Yang Kai’s group atop the platform were also attracted by this suction, but fortunately the Light Curtain offset a large portion of this force or all of them would have already been drawn into this whirlpool.

As long as they circulated their True Qi slightly, they could offset the remaining suction force.

“What’s happening?” Chen Yi frowned as he glared towards the outside and noticed a ghostly light now pulsating a short distance away from where the Evil Spirit Spring’s core once was.

This light was not bright, but in this profound darkness it seemed to emit a penetrating radiance.

Evil Spirit Essence! No doubt this was the Evil Spirit Spring’s Essence!

It was the Precious Treasure the old man had wanted before, a pity he had died before even being able to see it for himself.

As everyone observed this giant Evil Spirit Essence, they noticed that it was actually beating like a heart and was rapidly absorbing the surrounding energy with each pulse.

Slowly, this light disappeared, seeming to drown in the darkness of the Demonic Qi rushing towards it.

*Pa...*

Atop the pillar, another layer of the Light Curtain shattered.

Just as Yang Kai was about to spend another twenty drops of Yang Liquid to enhance the Light Curtain, Leng Shan cried out in surprise, “The Evil Spirit Spring is receding!”

At these words, everyone suddenly became ecstatic and turned their eyes towards the direction she was gazing, and sure enough they saw a faint light shining in from the opposite side of the Evil Cavern.

With all the Demonic Qi rapidly flowing towards the Evil Spirit Spring’s core, naturally there was a place it would drain from.

“Hahaha! The Heaven’s haven’t abandoned us after all!” Chen Yi shouted happily, just as everyone had felt death’s cold embrace wrapping around them, this light in darkness had once again ignited their hope for survival.

At the rate at which the Evil Spirit Spring was draining, it would only be a few dozen breaths before the Demonic Qi engulfing the high pillar receded.

Yang Kai however frowned and called out to everyone hastily, “The moment it’s clear we need to leave, this place is about to become extremely dangerous.”

“What do you mean?” Leng Shan asked, somewhat startled.

“Something or someone incredibly powerful is forming!” Yang Kai said with an intensely profound expression as he stared towards the Evil Spirit Spring’s core.

The others couldn’t yet use their Divine Senses, so all they could feel was the massive energy fluctuations radiating from the core, but Yang Kai could sense much more than they could.

All of the remaining Evil Spirits, as well as all of the Demonic Qi, was being sucked into the Evil Spirit Spring’s core and transformed into a single massive lump of energy, and as this energy gathered it was condensing into a coherent form.

The massive Evil Spirit Essence that had appeared in the center of the spring was actually shaping into a body!

With so much energy being used to form this unknown entity, once it was finished forming its strength would be absolutely terrifying!

A moment later, the Demonic Qi had finally drained enough for them to leave.

“Go!” Yang Kai shouted, as he leapt off the platform and shot towards the Evil Cavern’s exit. Everyone else followed closely behind as well.

Now that a chance to escape had finally appeared, whether it was the Ghost King Valley or Treasure Instrument Sect disciples, everyone scampered as quickly as rabbits, cursed the fact that they were only born with two legs, and pushed their True Qi to the limit, not hesitating to use their Movement Skills and even their auxiliary artifacts to gain even the slightest bit more speed.

In terms of speed, Yang Kai was the fastest and led the way. The Hu Sisters used some kind of mystical ability that seemed to link their True Qis together and followed right behind him, effortlessly keeping pace.

But after only escaping some ten or so kilometers a terrifying roar resounded from somewhere behind them.

This roar caused the entire Evil Cavern to shudder, like a slumbering beast had awoken after a long imprisonment.

A powerful blast of wind brushed past them a moment later. If they hadn’t already escaped this far, they would have been swept away by this shockwave.

Now acutely aware of just how outrageously powerful this unknown creature was, everyone’s faces drained of all colour, and they desperately channeled more of their True Qi in an attempt to increase their speed.

With such single-minded effort, everyone was naturally traveling quite quickly.

“Over there! The exit is over there!” Cheng Ying who had been serving as a scout before now and was the most familiar with the Evil Cavern’s terrain quickly pointed towards the exit.

In the direction he indicated, Yang Kai really could see a faint point of light different from the Evil Cavern’s gloomy illumination; not hesitating, Yang Kai quickly led the crowd towards the light.

Seeing this faint trace of sunlight, everyone couldn’t help but feel relieved, and all of them were eager to escape from this hellish experience.

However, when they were just about two kilometers from the exit, a group of Immortal Ascension Boundary masters suddenly appeared and flew towards them.

Yang Kai’s brow furrowed, and he secretly secretly increased his level of vigilance.

These Immortal Ascension Boundary masters all possessed a dense Evil Qi, and an undisguised malicious and murderous aura radiated from their bodies. These people were definitely nothing good.

Of course, with such a large scale event happening inside the Evil Cavern it was only natural that it would attract nearby Immortal Ascension experts, but what depressed Yang Kai was that these people obviously realized he and his group were coming out of the Evil Cavern and would thus have information regarding what had happened.

The distance between the two groups rapidly shrunk as these Immortal Ascension Boundary masters locked their sights on Yang Kai and his group and called out to them as soon as they approached, “You brats over there, stop for this old master!”

Listening to this shout, which was nothing short of a command, made everyone’s heart sink.

After experiencing such a crisis and now finally seeing the path to escape within reach but being blocked at the final step, of course they wouldn’t feel good.

“They’re the Ghost King’s Four Monsters and Demons!” Leng Shan’s expression darkened as she quickly whispered to Yang Kai, “All of them have reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh or Eighth Stage. We absolutely can’t fight them!”

She was afraid that Yang Kai might accidentally offend these four without knowing who they were, so she hurriedly explained their identities. Moreover, these four individuals were regarded as real devils who had committed all kinds of atrocious acts, and they had extremely notorious reputations even amongst those who inhabited the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land.

The four of them were very proficient in group combat, so even though they were only Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh or Eighth Stage masters, together they could hold their ground against even Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary masters for some time, so even though their enemies were incredibly numerous, they still lived relatively rich and indulgent lives.

What’s more, the four of them had close ties to the Profound Yin Ghost King!

Their temperaments were also ruthless, and if they were displeased in any way, they wouldn’t hesitate to massacre people in cruel and vicious ways.

Yang Kai naturally understood what to do, so when the man shouted out to them, although he was anxious and unwilling in his heart, he had no choice but to quickly stop.

The four old men flew side by side while wearing similarly designed robes that only differed in colour, which allowed each one of them to be easily identified.

These Four Monster and Demons wore blue, green, yellow, and purple respectively.

All of these old men stood above Yang Kai and looked down upon them in an arrogant manner, and then the blue robed one started to interrogate them in a commanding tone, “Who are you? What happened here?”

Yang Kai’s brow furrowed lightly as he replied, “Seniors, we are disciples from Ghost King Valley who came here for life experience, as for what just happened, we don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” The blue robed old man coldly snorted, clearly believing that Yang Kai was lying.

“Enough nonsense, just make him spit out what he knows on the way.” The green robed old casually said.

“Good.” The blue robed old man nodded and arrived in a flash beside Yang Kai.

Yang Kai instinctively began circulating his True Qi for a moment but quickly suppressed this urge. In the face of a single Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh or Eighth Stage master, he had no hope of resisting, let alone four of them.

Acting rashly would only make things worse!

The blue robed old man easily seized Yang Kai, not even bothering to seal his cultivation before flying forward again, seemingly extremely confident this kid wouldn’t be able to resist him in the slightest.

“All of you exit first! When I come out I’ll find you.” Yang Kai shouted towards his comrades just before he and the four old men disappeared from sight.

“Yang Kai!” Both Hu Sisters paled in fright; they had been so close to escaping this forsaken place, yet now, how could this have happened?