Martial Peak

After probing the mountain with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai faintly realized that there was more than one barrier erected here.

He knew that Sun Ying had only opened a single barrier last night to prevent their prey from escaping though.

Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, faintly feeling that something was off.

“Enter!” Sun Ying waved his hand and walked into the cave, the others following close behind.

The mine was quite deep and the path down was a long twisting passage.

Along the way, there were traces left behind of something gnawing on the walls and there were no traces of Sun Tin ore anywhere to be seen; the Metal Devouring Beasts had obviously cleaned this section out completely.

These Monster Beasts took minerals as food, so once they had finished eating what was available in the surrounding areas, they had apparently moved inwards and were now several kilometers from the entrance, scattered about scavenging for food. This situation was quite convenient for Bold Independent Union as it would allow them to capture them one by one.

After walking a short while, a fork in the path appeared.

Sun Ying paused for a moment to inspect the area in front of them before saying, “Yun girl, your team has the most people, and with your strength you should be able to handle yourselves on your own. Xin Yu’s team has the least members so I will follow them. If you encounter any unforeseen accidents, notify me immediately and I’ll quickly come to your aid.”

Yun Xuan nodded firmly before leading the members of her team and Yang Kai into the channel on the left.

“Yun Xuan, be carefully,” Zhuo Luo said in a concerned, affectionate tone...

Of course, he received no response, Yun Xuan acting as if she hadn’t heard him at all. Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help but laugh at this as she stared at Zhuo Luo scornfully, “Stop wasting your effort.”

“Alright, let’s get going,” Sun Ying knew that this particular group had a lot of emotional baggage and did not want to give them any more time to bicker, immediately signaling for everyone to continue with their mission.

After Yun Xuan’s team had walked a fair distance, Yang Kai quickly caught up to Yun Xuan and whispered, “With Senior Sun leaving the barrier in that place; will there be any problems?”

“What kind of problems?” Yun Xuan stared at him blankly.

“This way, without him opening the barrier, although the Metal Devouring Beasts can’t escape, doesn’t that mean we can’t exit either?”

“We’re here to capture those Metal Devouring Beasts, why are you worried about being able to exit?” Yun Xuan frowned and suddenly understood, “Are you afraid there’ll be some kind of danger?”

Yang Kai nodded lightly.

Yun Xuan laughed in spite of trying not to, “You’re worried too much. Ruan Xin Yu’s team have already been investigating this place for more than a dozen days, and Uncle Sun also personally checked the situation here. Naturally they determined there wasn’t any danger here so they decided to erect that barrier. But don’t worry, if we really run into trouble we can’t solve, Uncle Sun will quickly help us.”

Listening to these words, Yang Kai knew it wasn’t a good idea to press the issue so he simply closed his mouth and nodded.

Yun Xuan looked at him for a moment before whispering, “Being cautions is a good thing, but if you want to be a real man, you have to be bolder, or you’ll never accomplish anything significant.”

Because she was worried that if she spoke to loudly she would disturb the nearby Metal Devouring Beast, Yun Xuan not only lowered her voice but also brought her lips close to Yang Kai’s ear.

As her intoxicating fragrance quietly drifted into Yang Kai’s nose, his face couldn’t help going slightly stiff.

Noticing her gaff, Yun Xuan’s face blushed faintly, quickly pulling away and letting out a cough, “Follow behind me, as long as I don’t give the order, don’t move about arbitrarily.”

Yang Kai secretly smiled, thinking to himself that this young woman really regarded him as a kid. Although it was true he wasn’t very old, the amount of worldly experience he had was immense.

“Captain!” At that moment, the bearded man suddenly called out; the entire team went silent and stared towards a bend up ahead.

From around the corner, a clear sound of chewing could be heard and a quick sweep with their Divine Senses clearly told them that they had come across their target.

“Only one,” Yun Xuan smiled, “Our luck is good.”

“Heh heh!” Ji Hong smirked as he rolled up his sleeves, the others also showing looks of excitement.

Gathering everyone’s attention, Yun Xuan quickly made a few gestures and the rest of the team soon nodded and spread out.

Sensing some subtle energy fluctuations, Yang Kai realized that two people were setting up something nearby, probably a trap. Everyone else stood guard to avoid having their movements startle the nearby Metal Devouring Beast.

A short time later, everything had been prepared.

Ji Hong glanced over at Yun Xuan.

Yun Xuan nodded.

Ji Hong smiled fiercely as he licked his lips and in the next instant summoned a giant axe into his hand. When this axe appeared, a cold murderous intent and bloody aura leaked out.

Ji Hong tightly gripped his axe and leapt out, rushing forward what raising a loud war cry.

The gnawing sound suddenly stopped and Yang Kai clearly felt that the nearby Monster Beast’s aura quickly become dangerous.

Ji Hong’s provocation had obviously angered the Metal Devouring Beast.

*Dong dong dong...* The earth trembled, lightly at first but growing heavier every moment until from around the corner big silver coloured head appeared. This head had two golden horns and its eyes emitted a faint metallic lustre. Its physical strength, accompanied by its strong murderous intent was nothing to scoff at.

Metal Devouring Beast!

This was also the first time Yang Kai had ever seen this Monster Beast. From a quick glance, Yang Kai determined it was about six meters in length, and one and a half meters tall. It was slightly fat and chubby, its belly jiggling as it ran but despite that, its speed wasn’t slow.

What most caught Yang Kai’s attention was the armoured plating that wrapped its body; this thick plating looked quite sturdy and obviously wouldn’t be easy to break open.

These pieces of armor resembled a turtle’s shell and covered everything with the exception of its tail and underbelly, leaving few weaknesses to target.

As soon as Ji Hong got within ten meters of the Metal Devouring Beast, he suddenly turned around and ran back.

He never intended to confront this Sixth-Order Monster Beast head on.

“Come on!” Ji Hong yelled as he ran, his and everyone else in the team’s faces filled with excitement.

Just as he reached the location of the trap, Ji Hong leapt forward across it but the Sixth-Order Metal Devouring Beast, with its fat body, obviously wasn’t capable of such movement and crashed directly into it.

The two cultivators who were standing by didn’t need to wait for Yun Xuan’s order before activating the trap.

A flash of light burst from the ground and a series of energy ropes sprung up, wrapping tightly around the Metal Devouring Beast.

Its four clumsy limbs quickly entangled, the massive body of the Metal Devouring Beast continued forward a few dozen meters under the influence of its own inertia before coming to a stop, leaving behind a deep gully-like trail on the ground behind it.

“Break both of its horns!” Yun Xuan shouted, taking the lead, a powerful force erupting from her tender body as she charged towards the Metal Devouring Beast.

The other members of her team also hurriedly kept up.

The Metal Devouring Beast struggled violently and wreaked havoc in the mine tunnel while releasing golden beams of energy from its two horns which puncture many holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling, but as a Sixth-Order Monster Beast, it was only equivalent to an Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator and with its mobility severely limited it couldn’t deal any effective damage to Yun Xuan’s team.

After only a few breaths of time, the Metal Devouring Beast’s hard horns were cut off by Ji Hong’s big axe.

Seemingly enduring excruciating pain, the Metal Devouring Beast wailed loudly.

Yun Xuan leapt forward and quickly bound its mouth, silencing it.

“Captain!” Ji Hong smiled sheepishly, handing over the two horns he had just cut down to Yun Xuan, the latter nodding with satisfaction as she stowed them in her Universe Bag.

Because of its diet, a Metal Devouring Beast’s horns were excellent Artifact Refining materials, so they couldn’t be wasted. “Too easy,” Ji Hong shook his head and said proudly.

“A Sixth-Order Monster Beast’s intelligence isn’t very high and with our pre-arranged trap, it only makes sense we were able to easily capture it. If we had to fight it head on, we would have had a significantly harder time. Its armour is thick and difficult to penetrate while the energy attacks it releases from its horns can’t be ignored, an ordinary Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator wouldn’t be its opponent and inside this mine, our mobility is quite limited making it harder for us to display our full strength. Don’t underestimate the enemy just because things went well this time,” Yun Xuan sternly said so that Ji Hong and the others wouldn’t suffer unnecessary losses due to carelessness.

“Yes ma’am,” Ji Hong nodded repeatedly.

Yun Xuan smiled, “Good, let’s keep moving. For now we’ll leave this fellow here; we’ll find a way to ship him back to Bold Independent City when this is all over.”

Encouraged by this first victory, everyone’s spirits rose to a new height as they enthusiastically walked forward.

Using this method, after half a day, Yun Xuan’s team easily captured three Metal Devouring Beasts.

All this time, Yang Kai had not acted.

This wasn’t because of Yun Xuan’s previous instructions to him to not act on his own, but because Yun Xuan’s team had no need of his help as they so far encountered minimal difficulty capturing these Metal Devouring Beasts.

The reason Yang Kai came this time was mainly because he wanted to return Yun Xuan’s favour. If he ended up not having any opportunity to act here then he wouldn’t impose himself and would instead think of another way to pay her back.

However, after observing for half a day, Yang Kai knew that it was impossible for them to capture all the Metal Devouring Beasts this way.

First of all, the number of trap artifacts they brought wasn’t enough, and second, not every Metal Devouring Beast acted alone.

As if to prove his analysis right, in front of their team, the auras of two Metal Devouring Beasts close to each other soon appeared, if they attacked one, the other would surely be alerted as well.

Sure enough, after Ji Hong came back from scouting ahead and described the situation to Yun Xuan, the latter’s brow couldn’t help furrowing.

“How many beast traps do we have left?” Yun Xuan asked.

“Three.”

“Set all of them up,” Yun Xuan thought for a while and said.

“En.” With a nod, the members of her team set about arranging these three beast traps.

After everything was ready, Ji Hong once again ran forward and shouted to provoke the two Metal Devouring Beasts and a moment later led both of them back.

However, when the two beasts hit the first trap, it didn’t have nearly the same effect as before.

The charge of the two Metal Devouring Beasts was so strong that any of the trap’s bindings were instantly shattered, only leaving behind light particles as remnants to highlight its failure.

The second trap also only managed to slightly slow down the pairs speed while the last trap finally bound one of them.

The remaining Metal Devouring Beast continued its charge towards Yun Xuan.

“Attack!” Yun Xuan didn’t panic, seemingly having expected such a result, and calmly issued the order to attack, the cultivators hidden to the left and right of the tunnel immediately using their Martial skills and artifacts to bombard the charging beast.