Martial Peak

Chapter 2216, Python

One day later, Yang Kai’s body suddenly shook slightly after he absorbed the Soul Source left behind from the death of an Eleventh-Order Monster Beast.

He couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

In that instant, he actually sensed some slight discomfort. This sense of discomfort had an unknown cause, but it was quite clear that he felt uncomfortable all over his entire body.

“Am I at my limit now…?” Yang Kai didn’t panic. He figured out the reason with just a little thought.

Gao Xue Ting had previously said that even though absorbing Soul Sources left behind from living beings here could swiftly strengthen one’s Soul, it also had its downsides.

When one absorbs to a certain extent, he would reach a state of saturation.

Once that happened, it would be impossible to absorb any more Soul Sources, as something negative might happen to his body.

Yang Kai had definitely reached that point.

He thought about it and felt that it was only natural. In less than three days, he had already used the Soul Devouring Demon Insects to kill more than one hundred Monster Beasts and absorbed all those Soul Sources for himself. Some of the Monster Beasts had even been Eleventh-Order. This number and speed were quite astonishing.

Yang Kai estimated that it was impossible for Xia Sheng and the others to even have a fifth of his harvest because he hadn’t needed to rest at all as he travelled. He simply needed to use his Soul Devouring Insects whenever he discovered some prey.

Meanwhile, Xia Sheng and the others would need to rest for a while after every single fight, so they would have much lower efficiency.

“It’s such a pity…” Yang Kai muttered to himself.

He originally had wanted to continue like this and have his Spiritual Energy reach the Emperor Realm. Once his Soul reached such a level, it would become much easier for him to cultivate in the future.

But since he was already at his limit in absorption, it couldn’t be helped. He could only slowly wait for his Soul Avatar to completely digest the Soul Sources that he absorbed over the past few days…

Nonetheless, Yang Kai didn’t slow down at all and continued forward at his original speed.

Although he was unable to absorb any more Soul Sources for himself, his Soul Devouring Demon Insects were still capable of growing, so it wasn’t a waste.

The deeper that Yang Kai went into the mountains, the more he noticed that the average Monster Beasts he met had stronger cultivations.

At first, when he had just separated from Xia Sheng and the others, he would still find some Eighth-Order, Seventh-Order, or even weaker Monster Beasts. He was naturally not interested in these Monster Beasts and ignored them all.

But as time passed, these weak Monster Beasts disappeared and were replaced by more powerful existences.

At Yang Kai’s current location, he no longer saw any Ninth-Order or below Monster Beasts. All Monster Beasts were Tenth-Order at the minimum!

According to Yang Kai’s calculations, if he went deeper into the mountains, it was likely that even Tenth-Order Monster Beasts would stop appearing before him.

At this moment, just as he was searching around for prey, a gust suddenly whipped up in the forest and caused the trees to shake. An usual pressure rapidly approached from the distance, while a strange sound entered Yang Kai’s ears.

He couldn’t help but adopt a serious expression as he focused on that direction.

*Hualala…*

It sounded like something was using tremendous force to smash the trees in this forest, causing them to topple in large numbers.

A moment later, a flash of purple light suddenly shot from the front with incredible speed.

“Hmm?” Yang Kai was caught by surprise because he discovered that the purple light object charging towards him was actually a small Monster Beast only about as big as his arm.

Although a Monster Beast’s strength couldn’t be assessed from its size alone, when Yang Kai scanned it with his Divine Sense, he clearly sensed that this Purple Squirrel’s level was only Ninth-Order!

Since travelling here, it had been quite some time since he discovered a Ninth-Order Monster Beast, because a Ninth-Order’s strength was no longer suitable to survive in this current environment.

Thus, Yang Kai was somewhat surprised to see this Purple Squirrel appear before him. He didn’t know how such a weak Monster Beast could survive safely in this region.

Still, its speed was truly quick. Yang Kai had discovered the Purple Squirrel and scanned its level in just an instant, but before Yang Kai could do anything about it, the Purple Squirrel actually darted behind Yang Kai with a whoosh.

As the human and beast passed each other by, Yang Kai saw quite clearly that the Purple Squirrel had a look of wonder flashing in its eyes as it kept looking at him. It was as if the Purple Squirrel had discovered something new and curious.

This was obviously a sign of the Monster Beast possessing sentience. The Monster Beasts that Yang Kai met before hadn’t possessed such intelligence, as those Monster Beasts simply carried out their own instinctive desire to feed and slaughter. Whenever a Monster Beast met Yang Kai, it would automatically attack him even if he didn’t attack first.

On the other hand, this little Purple Squirrel was obviously different from other Monster Beasts.

However, Yang Kai didn’t have the time to focus on the Purple Squirrel as he had to focus forward with a serious expression.

After all, there was something vicious pursuing this Purple Squirrel…

*Hualala…*

There were more loud crashing sounds of trees falling over, and right after, a large flat head suddenly emerged from the front. Sharp scales covered the top of this head and the scarlet patterns on its face gave it quite the vicious look. Its eyes were the size of washbasins and its vertical green pupils sent chills down the spine of anyone who saw them. This beat’s gigantic open mouth had a red tongue that kept flickering in and out as it hissed.

This was a gigantic python Monster Beast!

For some unknown reason, it had been chasing the Purple Squirrel all the way to Yang Kai’s location.

When it appeared, the python’s vertical pupils immediately focused on Yang Kai. After that, its body gradually revealed itself to be as thick as a human was tall. Raising its head up high, it kept spitting its tongue and glaring at Yang Kai with hostile intentions.

“You really know how to bring trouble to others…” Yang Kai turned around and gave a dark look towards the Purple Squirrel who was peeking out with its tiny head from behind a tree nearby.

When the Purple Squirrel saw him looking at it, it couldn’t help but retract its neck; however, it soon started sneaking peeks again. It seemed to want to see if Yang Kai was capable of chasing away the python.

“I’ll deal with you after I finish dealing with him,” Yang Kai chuckled as he turned around again to focus on the python.

He had no reason to give up on prey that had come to him, so he was prepared to fight.

The python seemed to sense that Yang Kai wasn’t easy to deal with, so it actually didn’t immediately attack upon appearing and instead glared down at him from above, its eyes flashed with an incredibly dangerous light.

Yang Kai scanned the python with his Divine Sense, causing his expression to become ever more serious.

He discovered that this python was the strongest Monster Beast he had met so far, its aura fluctuations comparable to his own. In other words, the python had also reached the peak of the Eleventh-Order. If the python had some more time, it would definitely rise to the Twelfth-Order, becoming equivalent to an Emperor Realm Master!

In this mirror world, strengthening the Soul was the only cultivation route since there were no physical bodies. Thus, as long as one’s Soul strength met requirements, then one could easily rise to the next cultivation level.

This python here had doubtlessly reached the threshold of the Emperor Realm.

After the stalemate lasted for a while, the python lost its patience first as its instinct to slaughter took over its movements.

The next instant, a green light flashed in its eyes as an invisible force shot towards Yang Kai.

A purple light instantly exploded from Yang Kai’s body as the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield appeared.

The light screen rippled fiercely under some kind of significant invisible force.

Soul Impact!

This was a Soul Technique that every Monster Beast here, no, every living being here knew how to use. By using one’s own Spiritual Energy as the foundation, one could send a strong shockwave out towards an enemy.

It was quite simple and direct, but also very powerful.

This attack would often immediately determine the victor of a battle, especially when there was a big difference in raw strength.

Yang Kai had met over a hundred Monster Beasts on the way here so far, and almost every single time, the Monster Beast would try to fight with this technique, so he had long since gotten accustomed to it.

The Purple Sun Profound Light Shield was at least a Dao Source Grade Soul-type artifact, so even though Yang Kai had yet to finish refining it and couldn’t use its full power, it still had good defensive strength.

Not a single Monster Beast had been able to break through this artifact’s defences.

However…

The python’s soul attack caused light to flash furiously upon the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield, almost shattering it. Yang Kai also staggered backwards for several steps as his expression darkened slightly.

As expected of a Monster Beast at the peak of the Eleventh-Order, even its opening attack was quite something.

Meanwhile, at the same time that the python released its soul attack, it also sent its steel whip-like tail straight at Yang Kai, kicking up a torrential gust of wind in the process.

All trees blocking the way were all snapped instantly, so it was clear just how powerful this tail strike was.

Yang Kai’s expression became serious when he saw this and naturally didn’t dare to take this attack head-on.

With a flicker, his body disappeared from where he stood.

*Kacha…*

Countless trees were snapped with a tremendous sound. However, the python’s attack did nothing. Not only that, it even lost track of Yang Kai’s whereabouts.

The python’s combat instincts made it somewhat uneasy as it kept spitting out its tongue at an obviously faster speed. Perhaps it sensed something as it suddenly raised its head and looked midair.

By the time it looked up though, Yang Kai was already descending towards its head as he shouted with anger, “You damn beast, take one from me as well!”

As he spoke, he also unleashed a similar Soul Impact as he gathered his own Divine Sense and transformed it into an invisible sword that sliced at the python’s eyes.

*Clang clang…*

There were two loud sounds that seemed like metal clashing against metal as sparks flew from the python’s eyelids.

When Yang Kai’s attack was about to connect, the python instinctually closed its eyes and caused the strike to fail.

However, buzzing sounds arose in the very next instant.

Yang Kai had already released the Soul Devouring Demon Insects in the moment that the python closed its eyes.

The black cloud surrounded by Demon Qi appeared and covered the sky.

The demonic insects swarmed with an unstoppable might.

When the Soul Devouring Demon Insects appeared, the python’s eyes actually contained a type of anthropomorphic panic similar to that of humans. It seemed to be really afraid of the demonic insects.

Meanwhile, the Purple Squirrel that was still hiding behind a tree behind Yang Kai was now trembling to the point where its eyes rolled back and it fell unconscious where it was.

It seemed that these Soul Devouring Demon Insects brought tremendous pressure to these two Monster Beasts.