Martial Peak

Chapter 2145, Shrewd and Crafty

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Zhou An didn’t move because Yang Kai didn’t move.

At this moment, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was locked onto him, hanging over his head like a sharp blade. It was causing him to have the horrible illusion that even the slightest movement would result in him turning into a fresh corpse.

This made him pale, and panic deep in his heart.

He could perceive that Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was as powerful as a Third-Order Dao Source Realm’s, far surpassing his own. Fighting such a person would definitely not benefit him.

Observing the other battlefields, both Hua Gu and Xiong Ning seemed to be at a disadvantage.

Zhou An felt bitter in his heart, knowing that this time, they had really kicked an iron plate.

He quietly took a look at Yang Kai and found that the other party was not paying attention to him, so Zhou An gathered his courage, squeezed out a smile, cupped his fists, and said, “This friend…”

Yang Kai heard him, turned his head, and lightly asked, “Do you have any last words?”

Zhou An’s brow twitched as he replied, “This friend misunderstands, I just wanted to say that I don’t know these two people, we only met by chance and came here together!”

Yang Kai looked at him indifferently, still unmoved.

On the contrary, when the other two heard his remarks, they were shocked.

Xiong Ning glared at Zhou An incredulously as he avoided Liu Yan’s attack and shouted, “Senior Brother Zhou, what are you talking about!?”

Hua Gu was also furious and angrily shouted, “Zhou An, you dare claim you have nothing to do with this when you were the first one to act?!”

“That man called you Senior Brother…” Yang Kai pointed at Xiong Ning.

Zhou An sternly said, “He must have problems with his head, this friend should not listen to any of his nonsense.”

As he spoke, he put on a flattering smile, “Friend, this one really had no ill intentions towards you and was simply dragged along by them to investigate this place where we encountered your Artifact Spirit by accident. Fortunately, this friend’s Artifact Spirit suffered no damage, so I hope this friend can let this small matter go.”

After spouting this shameless remark, before Yang Kai even had a chance to reply, Hua Gu on the other side turned red with anger and coughed up a mouthful of blood, all his veins puffing out as he roared furiously, “Shameless! Do you not have any face?!”

“Shut up!” Zhou An shouted angrily, “This Zhou, from now on, has nothing to do with you villains!”

“Wayaya…”

Hua Gu was infuriated and let loose an odd roar from his lips, almost as if he had gone insane. At that moment, he was caught by the Embodiment when it stomped the ground hard and shouted, “Earth Prison!”

A peculiar power gushed out from the Embodiment’s huge body and poured into the ground, causing it to liquefy and form a number of long hands which flew up into the air like giant whips.

Hua Gu was caught off guard and directly entangled by these long whip-like hands.

“Not good!” Hua Gu exclaimed as he tried desperately to break free, but soon he was dragged down to the ground by an irresistible force. Soon, his body was pulled underground until only his head remained exposed.

Strangely, the moment Hua Gu sank into the ground, the liquified ground was restored to its original state. The ground then solidified to the point where no matter how hard Hua Gu struggled, he couldn’t break free.

He was like a man who had fallen into quicksand and was unable to escape.

The Embodiment’s massive body stood in front of him like a mountain, casting a huge shadow over him.

“Oh? Is that a new ability?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up as he looked on in interest.

He could not recall the Embodiment using such a technique before and did not know if it was an innate ability of the Stone Puppet Clan, or if it was something it comprehended after cultivating the Heaven Devouring Battle Law.

On the other side, Zhou An trembled.

Seeing Hua Gu, a Third-Order Dao Source Realm master, lose so quickly, how could he dare to remain?

Quickly cupping his fists, he shouted, “This friend, I wish you good fortune, this one will take his leave!”

As he spoke, he tried to fly up and escape.

“Did I let you leave?” Yang Kai waved his hand, sending out a Moon Blade to cut off Zhou An’s path.

Zhou An paused, looked back, and asked haltingly, “What other advice does Friend have to give?”

Although Zhou An put on a humble attitude, there was still a vigilant light in the depths of his eyes. Yang Kai had no doubt that if he attacked first, Zhou An would surely counterattack.

This man was willing to betray his fellow Sect brothers, so he probably wouldn’t believe anyone.

“I have no advice for you…” Yang Kai said lightly, “But… since you say that you are not with them, don’t you think you should prove yourself?”

“Prove myself…” Zhou An’s eyes flickered, but soon, he nodded and said, “This one understands, please observe well, friend!”

Saying so, he summoned his spear artifact and poured his Source Qi into it. Then he jumped out and rushed towards the battle between Liu Yan and Xiong Ning. With his spear trembling, Principle Strength began to swirl around it and condense at the tip in a brilliant display of light.

“Primordial Divine Spear!”

As he shouted, his eyes filled with murderous intent, as he directed his attack at Xiong Ning!

Xiong Ning was shocked.

Liu Yan alone was enough to suppress him, and after losing his composure as a result of Zhou An’s shameless behaviour just now, he was already at a serious disadvantage in this battle. Now, Zhou An had actually attacked him, causing Xiong Ning to feel the aura of death grip him.

After hurriedly blocking Liu Yan’s blow, Xiong Ning shouted, “Senior Brother Zhou, are you crazy!?”

Zhou An coldly snorted without replying, instead pouring more power into his spear before throwing it out with full force.

The terrifying attack flew within a hair’s breadth of Xiong Ning before it shot towards Liu Yan.

“I knew you would do this from the beginning!” Liu Yan was neither panicked nor flustered as she coldly snorted and blew out a pillar of flame and lightning towards the approaching spear.

*Hong…*

The huge explosion occurred, drowning the figures of the three on the battlefield.

At the same time, Yang Kai raised the corner of his mouth into a sneer.

He had clearly seen Zhou An use this attack as a feint to create a scenario where he could burn his Blood Essence in order to display a Secret Technique that caused a blood-red glow to cover his body, dramatically increasing his speed as he fled into the canyon.

“Shrewd and crafty, an exemplary scum!” Yang Kai ‘praised’.

If he had been in Zhou An’s position, he would not have been able to come up with a better method of escape in order to survive.

However, his feint not only distracted Liu Yan, but also Xiong Ning. Xiong Ning, who was deceived, was stunned stupid after this attack as he believed he was about to die just now. But before he could recover from his shock, Liu Yan pounced on him again.

Forcefully composing himself, Xiong Ning continued his battle.

Deep in the canyon, Zhou An was fleeing madly.

After seeing Hua Gu being imprisoned, he knew that he would definitely die if he didn’t flee. Without even mentioning the strange stone giant, just that strange First-Order Dao Source Realm youth was not an opponent he could deal with by himself.

Zhou An had never seen such a monster before, with a Divine Sense on par with a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator while only having First-Order cultivation!

Believing in the expression, ‘A wise man will submit to the circumstances’, Zhou An had always been a flexible individual who understood the circumstances and adapted accordingly. In the Sect, he had a wide range of contacts and was well known for managing complex interpersonal relationships.

This Secret Technique that burned his Essence Blood consumed a lot of his strength, but it could dramatically increase his speed for a short period of time, so Zhou An was confident that even if Yang Kai was unusually strong, he would not be caught.

Unfortunately…

Just as he was thinking he had escaped, Zhou An saw the space in front of him ripple oddly.

Zhou An was taken aback and hurriedly came to a stop as he stared forward suspiciously.

The next moment though, he saw a figure slowly walk out from these ripples and smile at him playfully.

“You…” Zhou An’s eyes bulged as he stared at Yang Kai in disbelief, calling out in alarm, “How?”

However, Zhou An had a wide range of experiences, so it only took him a moment to think of something and exclaim, “Space Principles!”

This scene in front of him was exactly the same as the legendary teleportation Secret Technique those who cultivated the Dao of Space could use. Zhou An could not think of another explanation!

Although some special artifacts could allow one to teleport short distances, and they truly had similar effects to what he just witnessed, Zhou An was certain he did not see Yang Kai use any such artifact.

He immediately understood that the youth in front of him was someone who had cultivated the Dao of Space to an extremely high level!

After realizing this, Zhou An’s face turned ashen.

Everyone with half a brain knew that trying to flee from an enemy that was proficient in the Dao of Space was a futile endeavour!

At this moment, Zhou An’s mouth was filled with bitterness, as if he had eaten a sour bug. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but…

Yang Kai interrupted him directly, “Whatever you have to say, I will treat it as a fart!”

As he finished speaking, Yang Kai waved his hand and sent out a dozen Moon Blades.

Zhou An’s heart sank as he summoned his spear and assumed a defensive stance.

A ringing noise sounded out as the Moon Blades were cut down by Zhou An’s spear as he was pushed back again and again.

Before he could stabilize his figure, Yang Kai suddenly disappeared from his view.

Zhou An was shocked and quickly released his Divine Sense, but couldn’t find any trace of Yang Kai.

He instinctively flipped his spear and stabbed behind himself, but hit only empty space.

A voice that horrified Zhou An, like that of the reaper of death, called out from beside him at that moment, “Myriad Sword Arts, Radiant Moon Swallows the Wolf!”

An astonishing Sword Qi swept out at that moment and washed towards Zhou An, filling the gloomy canyon with a light a thousand times brighter than the moon in an instant!

In that moment, Zhou An felt an odd sense of clarity.

With an intense roar, he poured all of his Source Qi into his spear and unleashed his complete strength and skill, sending out thousands of spear shadows to form a dazzling, multi-coloured wave of force!

The spears smashed out and caused a violent explosion, after which hot blood splashed about.

After the dazzling white light dissipated, Yang Kai held the Myriads Sword quietly. Not far in front of him, Zhou An stood covered in blood with innumerable big and small wounds covering his body. His physique had been thrashed and his bones were exposed in many places. His clothes were shattered and the red glow that had radiated from his form had completely vanished. At this moment, his aura was so weak it was almost imperceptible.

With great difficulty, he lifted his gaze towards the Myriads Sword in Yang Kai’s hand and the corners of his lips curved into a bitter grin, “Emperor… Artifact, this Zhou’s death was not undeserved!”

With these words, he fell from the air into the canyon, his eyes quickly losing their lustre before he even hit the ground.