Martial Peak

Chapter 1681, Pressing For Answers

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain &Dhael Ligerkeys

Kang Fei Rao could also see that even without the help of the strange stone giant, he was definitely not Yang Kai’s opponent. This young man had not used his full strength from the beginning!

[Since when was there such a powerful Origin Returning Realm cultivator on this star?] Kang Fei Rao thought he had reached the limit of what an Origin Returning Realm master could achieve, but today, he realized he was greatly mistaken.

“Tell me what the Sun’s True Essence has to do with any of this?” Yang Kai’s voice sounded, “Why do you say you want to thank me for your current achievements? I don’t remember doing anything for you.”

Kang Fei Rao glanced at him but did not answer immediately. Only when he felt a ruinous strength beginning to crush his Corpse Core did his expression change and he quickly said, “It was an accident! You probably didn’t even know about it.”

“Oh?” Yang Kai raised his brow.

“Do you think that Sun’s True Essence was just randomly placed there? If so, you’re gravely mistaken. The reason the Sun’s True Essence was sealed in that place was to suppress an Underworld Well Spring.”

“Underworld Well Spring?” Yang Kai’s expression changed slightly.

Kang Fei Rao grinned, “Yes, it connects this world to the Underworld, where a thick Yin, Corpse, and Death Qi spring forth from. The Yin, Corpse, and Death Qi are all useless to living creatures, harmful in fact, but to my Corpse Spirit Race, it is nothing less than the finest resource! With an unlimited supply of it, our strength can rapidly grow to the limit of the Origin Returning Realm… en, perhaps even beyond!”

Kang Fei Rao thought he was at the peak of the Origin Returning Realm, but after fighting with Yang Kai, he realized he was still far from it.

“There was actually such a thing beneath Grand Burial Valley?” Yang Kai frowned slightly.

Kang Fei Rao chuckled and said, “How do you think that Corpse Cave was formed? My Ancient Yang Sect’s ancestors discovered that Underworld Well Spring long ago and used that piece of Sun’s True Essence to suppress it. However, the entire reason my noble Corpse Spirit Race could be born was because of the rich Corpse Qi which leaked into the Corpse Cave from it! Previously, we could not access that Underworld Well Spring, but after you took away that Sun’s True Essence, everything changed! Now, do you understand why this Protector must thank you?”

Yang Kai’s expression instantly turned ugly, and he said in a gloomy tone, “So, Shadowed Star becoming like this was my fault?”

“Hahaha!” Kang Fei Rao cackled towards the Heavens as he snickered, “Indeed, you are responsible! So… what do you think would happen if the people of Shadowed Star learned of this? Would they direct all their hatred towards you?”

“Are you threatening me? If you think this is enough for me to let you go, you are greatly mistaken,” Yang Kai sneered.

Kang Fei Rao’s expression flickered but he decided not to further provoke Yang Kai in the end.

Now that his Corpse Core was literally in Yang Kai’s hand, his life and death no longer his to control, naturally he would not do something so foolish.

“Who is your Religion Master? Is he one of the Corpse Generals I saw that day?” Yang Kai asked.

Kang Fei Rao shook his head, “No!”

“Then who?”

“I don’t know.”

“Nonsense!” Yang Kai coldly snorted as he tightened his grip greatly, causing Kang Fei Rao’s Corpse Core to crack slightly, as if it was on the verge of being crushed.

Kang Fei Rao trembled as he grit his teeth and snarled, “I really don’t know. Religion Master is not one of our Corpse Spirit Race at all, he just suddenly appeared inside the Corpse Cave one day and taught us some profound Secret Arts related to our Corpse Qi cultivation, as well as a method to convert others into our clansmen. Without him, it would have been impossible for us to leave the Corpse Cave already, we would likely still be groping around for a way forward in that subterranean cave; after all, none of us has cultivated like this before.”

While Kang Fei Rao spoke, Yang Kai was constantly using his Divine Sense to monitor his expressions and Soul fluctuations, but he did not notice any flaws. There were only two explanations for this, one was that Kang Fei Rao wasn’t lying and really didn’t know the identity or background of this mysterious Religion Master, or two, Kang Fei Rao’s acting skills had reached an astonishing level that could deceive even Yang Kai’s senses.

Yang Kai was more inclined to believe the former possibility.

“Then how strong is he?” Yang Kai asked again.

Kang Fei Rao’s face contorted a few times before he grits his teeth and muttered, “If I said I don’t know what his cultivation is, would you believe it?”

“What do you think?” Yang Kai glared at him coldly.

Kang Fei Rao sighed, “But I really don’t know! He never took action in front of us.”

“Then how did he become your Corpse Spirit Religion’s Religion Master? Don’t tell me that just because he taught you some cultivation and conversion methods, you all willingly submitted to him.”

“How could that be?” Kang Fei Rao sneered, a trace of irritation appearing on his face, “The reason why we brothers surrendered to him was that he…”

Kang Fei Rao had not finished speaking yet when his face suddenly changed drastically, as if something terrifying was happening to him, his eyes bulging as they filled with shock before a look of extreme pain filled his face.

A violent and unstable aura quickly spread from his body.

Yang Kai’s complexion changed as he hurriedly pulled his hand back.

The next moment, Kang Fei Rao howled miserably as a destructive aura burst from his Corpse Core. This aura rapidly transformed into a green flame that seemed to be burning Kang Fei Rao from the inside out.

Kang Fei Rao’s mouth, nose, eyes, and ears all sprayed out green flames, giving him a terrifying appearance.

In less than ten breaths of time, this powerful peak level Corpse General who had fought evenly against Ye Xi Yun was burned down by these green flames, leaving behind only a pile of black ashes.

Yang Kai watched this scene from the beginning to the end, a chill gripping his heart when it was all over.

He did not know exactly what happened to Kang Fei Rao, but he guessed that the mysterious Religion Master of Corpse Spirit Religion had placed some kind of terrible seal on him. Once Kang Fei Rao tried to reveal some key information, this seal would immediately activate, detonate his Corpse Core, and produce this corpse flame that would swiftly kill Kang Fei Rao!

Although everything was just his guess, Yang Kai was confident in his assessment!

[Such vicious methods! Such meticulous scheming!]

It wasn’t even clear what kind of sensitive information Kang Fei Rao was about to reveal that triggered the seal in his body.

Yang Kai thought back to the words Kang Fei Rao spoke just before he died, and although the other party did not articulate anything in particular, Yang Kai was still able to infer some information from it.

This mysterious Religion Master possibly had some kind of method or artifact in his hand which enabled him to control the Corpse Spirit Race!

This was the most likely scenario.

Kang Fei Rao was dead now, so it was impossible to get anything more from it. Pausing for a moment, Yang Kai could not help feeling somewhat wary of this mysterious Religion Master.

Being able to place such a seal onto one’s own subordinates proved that this Religion Master would not be someone easy to deal with.

As for Kang Fei Rao’s statement that Shadowed Star’s current crisis was at least partially his fault, Yang Kai did not attempt to deny it. However, while it was true that him taking away the Sun’s True Essence suppressing the Underworld Well Spring allowed the Corpse Spirit Race to grow much more powerful in a short period of time, the primary reason for this upheaval was no doubt the mysterious Religion Master teaching them the proper method to cultivate as well as giving them the knowledge to successfully transform others into members of the Corpse Spirit Race!

If they did not possess such a method, Corpse Spirit Religion would never have been able to expand so rapidly.

After Yang Kai mulled over these thoughts for a moment, he decided to set the entire issue aside for the time being.

Looking up, the black Origin King Grade Starship was still wantonly bombarding Corpse Spirit Religion’s army. Each Crystal Cannon volley was able to harvest at least dozens from the Corpse Spirit Race as well as those Human cultivators who had submitted to them.

During his battle with Kang Fei Rao, the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s periphery had become filled with dead bodies and scattered remains.

Letting out a light sigh, Yang Kai flew up into the sky, pushed his Space Force, and returned to the Starship.

“Return to the Sect!” He shouted sharply.

After the campaign of extermination the Starship just executed, more than half of the Corpse Spirit Religion army which was besieging High Heaven Sect had been eliminated. Even the White-Robed Corpse General Kang Fei Rao had been killed by Yang Kai, so pursuing the rest of these remnants was not a high priority.

What was most important now was to return to the Sect.

The people Yang Kai brought with him from Tong Xuan Realm needed to be settled in; after all, they had been waiting inside the Sealed World Bead for several years now and it was best for them to contact and familiarize themselves with the World Principles here as soon as possible.

Moreover, Yang Kai also wanted to know how High Heaven Sect was fairing now. It was rumoured that High Heaven Sect had suffered several losses over the past two years and that Great Elder Ye Xi Yun was seriously injured, making Yang Kai wonder if she had recovered or not by now.

The Three Blazing Flame Rings which formed the Flowing Flame Sand Field were so powerful that even an ordinary Origin King Grade Starship would be burned to ashes the moment it tried to intrude.

However, High Heaven Sect’s Starship was personally refined by Yang Yan and had her aura branded into it, so the Three Blazing Flame Rings would not harm it and easily allowed it to pass.

It was not until the huge figure of the Starship disappeared that the Corpse Spirit Religion remnants who had been running and hiding breathed a sigh of relief, but the looks of lingering fear did not leave their faces.

Under the tyrannical might of the Starship, they were not even able to summon the courage to resist as they stood there waiting to be slaughtered!

Now that the Starship had left, they felt relieved.

Without receiving any orders to retreat, though, no one dared escape far. After a short time, the Corpse Spirit Religion cultivators gathered from all directions again and began waiting for instructions from Kang Fei Rao!

However, none of them were aware that Kang Fei Rao had already fallen.

It was not until an hour later, when Kang Fei Rao still didn’t show up, that some who had grown suspicious went to investigate the small palace, only to discover that the White-Robed Corpse General was dead.

The entire army instantly went into an uproar.

One of the four Protectors of Corpse Spirit Religion had fallen, and with the reappearance of High Heaven Sect’s Origin King Grade Starship, it was like an omen of things to come.

High Heaven Sect’s headquarters was located in the fourth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field.

However, after Yang Yan took back the first of the Three Blazing Flame Rings that day, the Flowing Flame Sand Field no longer had six layers, instead only consisting of four. So strictly speaking, High Heaven Sect was located in the second layer while the first layer was formed by the second of the Three Blazing Flame Rings. There was another Flame Ring which then separated the second layer from the innermost sanctum where Yang Yan was currently sleeping.

After crossing the flame barrier, Yang Kai scanned the familiar scenery around him and could not help feeling a little excited.

Although Tong Xuan Realm was his native land, he had actually lived on Shadowed Star for longer since he entered the Star Field, and with High Heaven Sect being located here, Yang Kai held a strong affinity to this place.

After all, this was the Sect he created with his own hands, the place where High Heaven Pavilion’s legacy would be carried forward. There was no substitute for the kind of emotion one attached to their own creation.