Martial Peak

In a secluded spot inside the Evil Cavern, the disciples of Ghost King Valley sat together in meditation. Having just undergone a fight, they also needed a moment to restore themselves.

In these Ominous Grounds, one’s safety could only be guaranteed if one maintained their peak condition.

Despite entering a meditative state, none of them relaxed their vigilance and closely monitored their surroundings for any signs of movement lest any red Evil Spirits suddenly appeared.

Yang Kai looked around and nodded while curiously observing Leng Shan in particular. After nearly a year apart, this icy girl had grown a lot.

Leng Shan was neither the strongest nor the oldest in this group, but it was clear that she was in command. Almost everything that was done was in accordance with her orders, allowing this group to have a high degree of organization.

Her high status in the Ghost King Valley was one reason for this, but more importantly she commanded everyone’s respect because she had accumulated a great deal of life experience in various trails and Forbidden Zones.

The gloomy youth Chen Yi also smiled and sat down nearby, smiling well-meaningly towards Yang Kai.

He seemed unaware that Yang Kai had killed two Elite Disciples of Ghost King Valley and that Leng Shan had a significant grudge against him.

“Why are you here?” Yang Kai asked curiously, surprised that on his visit to the Evil Cavern he would run into an acquaintance.

Although in that Isolated World Yang Kai’s relationship with Zi Mo was closer than the one he had with Leng Shan, but due to his Divine Sense Brand remaining on her Soul he still had a faint connection with her.

It was just that this link was unilateral. Yang Kai could feel Leng Shan’s presence but she couldn’t feel his.

“I can naturally be here,” Leng Shan grinned, “Don’t you know where this is?”

“The Evil Cavern.” Yang Kai frowned before suddenly understanding, “This place is in the Profound Yin Ghost King’s territory... Ghost King Valley, so Ghost King Valley was originally from this region of the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land.”

“En,” Leng Shan nodded lightly.

Yang Kai suddenly thought, “Does Ghost King Valley and the Profound Yin Ghost King have some kind of relationship?”

“Although both have ‘Ghost King’ in their titles, we don’t actually have any kind of deep connection, we just happen to belong to the same jurisdiction is all.” Chen Yi interjected with a smile, “It looks like Brother Yang isn’t very familiar with the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land.”

“En,” Yang Kai muttered.

Chen Yi simply laughed however and said, “Never mind, if you don’t understand anything, feel free to ask me. Since you’re Junior Sister’s savior, then you are a friend of my Ghost King Valley, and that naturally makes you my friend as well. Out of curiosity, where does Brother Yang come from?”

“Senior Brother!” Leng Shan shouted. Obviously, she knew which Sect Yang Kai came from, but because she knew, she felt it wasn’t something to be discussed casually.

Before, High Heaven Pavilion was a relatively unknown Sect, but now it was world-famous because it was the birthplace of the current Demon Lord.

Because of its relationship with the Demon Lord, the entire High Heaven Pavilion had essentially been destroyed, and not only did the outside world know about this, it was even news in the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land!

The Demon Lord’s arrival had brought war to the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land, which was not something everyone wanted to see.

After noticing Leng Shan’s sudden change in demeanor, Chen Yi grinned awkwardly and waved, “Well, just treat it like I hadn’t asked. Brother Yang doesn’t need to mind.”

However, in his heart his curiosity grew. Where exactly did this Yang Kai come from?

Yang Kai could only faintly smile in response.

“But, how come you are here?” Leng Shan asked inquisitively. She knew that High Heaven Pavilion was tens of thousands of kilometers from here.

“I heard that this place was interesting so I came to play!”

Chen Yi and Leng Shan were both dumbstruck and were unable to hold back a wry grin.

“You certainly have some big guts. A lone person actually daring to come here to play...” Leng Shan reluctantly shook her head, but when she thought back on just how terrifying Yang Kai’s strength was, she also wasn’t too surprised.

[Maybe he really is qualified to come here just to play...]

“Oh right, how come the Evil Spirits you’re dealing with here are red? All the ones I’ve come across so far were green.” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“Ha ha ha.” Chen Yi laughed loudly after realizing that Yang Kai really may have come here for fun. Why else would he have basically no knowledge about the Evil Cavern?

Leng Shan’s brow twitched slightly, as she tried to stifle her laughter.

The other disciples of Ghost King Valley also couldn’t help but look at Yang Kai with funny expressions.

Looking around, Yang Kai couldn’t help but scratch his head awkwardly.

“Ahem,” Leng Shan lightly coughed and straightened out her expression as she asked, “What is the difference between the green Evil Spirits and the red Evil Spirits?”

“Well, the red ones are undoubtedly stronger.”

“It’s like this: inside the Evil Cavern, the further one progresses, the more powerful the Evil Spirit’s they encounter become. It’s relatively easy to deal with green Evil Spirits which is why you mostly find them in the cavern’s periphery, As one dives further into the cavern, they encounter red, purple, and eventually black Evil Spirits. As the strength of these Evil Spirits’ grows, their bodies become more and more solid, to the point that a black Evil Spirit basically has a complete physical body. Even if it is a low level Immortal Ascension Boundary master, they have no choice but to retreat when they encounter one. For those at the True Element Boundary like ourselves, if we work together, at most we can deal with purple Evil Spirit. If we were to encounter a black Evil Spirit, our only choice would be to flee, and if we weren’t able to escape fast enough, we would most likely lose our lives.”

Yang Kai’s brow twitched upon hearing this. Obviously, it was from one of these purple Evil Spirits that Le Yu had obtained his Demonic Purple Qi Body and Purple Demonic Spirit Fire.

“I understand now.” Yang Kai nodded slightly.

“Moreover, in addition to these ordinary four different coloured Evil Spirits, there is a special type of Evil Spirit that Brother Yang should be extra wary of in this Evil Cavern.” Chen Yi said seriously, and his expression became exceptionally serious.

“Oh?” Yang Kai, noticing how solemn Chen Yi’s expression became, had his interest piqued and was unable to hold back his curiosity and asked, “What kind of Evil Spirit?”

“A Soul type Evil Spirit!” Chen Yi replied. His voice was filled with a tone of warning, “They look exactly the same as any other Evil Spirit, so they’re quite hard to differentiate, but if you come across one, I advise you, do everything in your power to flee!”

“Why is that?”

“Because they possess a Soul Skill!” Chen Yi grimaced, “I’m just a True Element Boundary cultivator, so if I were to encounter a Soul type Evil Spirit, I wouldn’t be able to even defend myself. Brother Yang, do you have a Soul defence type artifact?”

Yang Kai shook his head.

“Then it seems you’ll have trouble defending yourself as well,” Chen Yi said, frowning slightly, “Those who come to this place usually carry artifacts that can defend against Soul Skill attacks, if they’re high enough quality, they may be able to block some of the effects from a Soul type Evil Spirit. Well, Brother Yang cultivates a True Yang attribute Secret Art, so perhaps that will provide you with some limited protection as well.”

“It doesn’t matter, I doubt I’d be so unlucky to come across one.” Yang Kai grinned.

Although he had no Soul defence type artifact, he did have his Soul Palace Soul Skill, and the level of his Soul defense shouldn’t be too bad.

So in reality Yang Kai didn’t take this warning too seriously.

“Good, it’s true that Soul type Evil Spirits rarely appear.” Chen Yi nodded.

After a few casual words, the atmosphere had become much more relaxed.

Just as they were chatting, a weird voice suddenly rang out from a short distance away. The sound was sharp and shrill, like a mix of whistling winds and howling ghosts.

All of the Ghost King Valley disciples heard this voice and turned their heads towards the direction of its origin.

“There’s movement.” Chen Yi’s vision became sharp as he muttered under his breath.

“En, let’s go take a look.” Leng Shan nodded firmly.

Yang Kai didn’t ask any questions, but looking at the faces of these people he seemed to guess that there was more going on than simple Evil Spirit hunting.

“Move out.” Chen Yi quickly ordered and glanced over towards Yang Kai briefly, “Brother Yang, if you don’t mind, how about traveling together with us?”

“Good!” Yang Kai nodded immediately. He had just accidentally received an Evil Spirit Essence from them, and since he had yet to compensate them, traveling together with them for the time being was only to be expected.

It wasn’t his policy to receiving graciousness from others for free.

As the group walked forward, Leng Shan deliberately hung back and eventually walked side by side with Yang Kai.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything like that to you again.” Yang Kai stated clearly, thinking she might still be worrying about their previous encounter.

“I know you won’t,” Leng Shan shook her head, “I just wanted to tell you some things.”

“Oh, and what would that be?”

Leng Shan laughed lightly, “I wanted to tell you why we’ve come this time to the Evil Cavern.”

“Hmm? What is it that you’re trying to accomplish here?” Yang Kai puzzled.

“Actually, we’re looking for someone.”

“Looking for someone?”

“En, there are a few outsiders who have recently killed a lot of disciples from Free And Unfettered Sect, and then fled here. Our Ghost King Valley isn’t far from Free And Unfettered Sect, so we were pulled into this situation to help them.”

At a glance, Yang Kai could tell from her expression that she was rather resentful about helping this Free And Unfettered Sect.

Chuckling lightly, he asked, “Does that Free And Unfettered Sect often bully your Ghost King Valley? You don’t seem very willing to be here this time, do you?”

“Hmph, of course I don’t want to be here!” Leng Shan glared harshly, all but confirming Yang Kai’s speculations, before she continued, “I’m telling you in advance because I know you don’t belong to the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land, and the ones Free And Unfettered Sect are hunting are cultivators from the outside. I’m just worried that if you see your fellow comrades in danger you’d be put in a difficult position.”

“Fellow comrades?” Yang Kai sneered, “My Sect is gone, exactly what comrades do I have?”

Leng Shan’s expression became a bit dim, and she whispered, “About High Heaven Pavilion’s situation... my condolences!”

Yang Kai simply snorted.

Perhaps influenced by Shan Qing Luo or perhaps because of High Heaven Pavilion’s misfortune, Yang Kai no longer cared too deeply about concepts like righteousness or evil. The so called beliefs of the world in his opinion had nothing to do with him.

“Who is it that Free And Unfettered Sect is chasing?” Yang Kai was a bit curious.

“Other than a woman, who else could it be?” Leng Shan scoffed, “Free And Unfettered Sect’s favourite pastime is acting without restraint, not a night goes by they don’t do their best to vent their desires, understand?”

“Ah... I understand.” Yang Kai suddenly felt awkward, never having thought the cold and indifferent Leng Shan would actually speak so bluntly.

“But this time it’s not just a single young woman but a pair of twins. Both of them are extraordinarily beautiful and exceptionally strong to boot, and the two of them have actually razed quite a storm around here.” Leng Shan’s eyes secretly shone a light, obviously taking some pleasure in others’ misfortune, “The two of them have killed more than a dozen Free And Unfettered Sect disciples, but unfortunately it seems they finally came up against more than they could handle and were forced to escape here.”

“You seem to hold quite the grudge against that Free And Unfettered Sect.” Yang Kai looked her up and down, then chuckled, “Did someone from their Free And Unfettered Sect try to ‘vent their desires’ on our little beauty here too?”

“Hmph!” Leng Shan angrily snorted and turned her face away, not directly answering his question, but her meaning was clear enough.

“Heh heh...” Yang Kai chuckled and suddenly thought of something, “If you really were to find those two women, what are you planning to do?”

“I don’t know either,” Leng Shan shook her head. “I didn’t want to get involved in this in the first place. Even my Master said that we can just superficially cooperate and we don’t need to put in any real effort if we happen to catch them... we’ll think about it then.”

“Good.” Yang Kai nodded lightly.