Chapter 1999, Soul Splitting Sabre Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys The thousand-metre region surrounding the Soaring Dragon Altar had become a burial ground for countless Origin Kings. Half an hour later, the several dozen cultivators in the first group were now less than ten metres from the Soaring Dragon Altar! At such a close distance, the dozen or so treasures on the altar could now be seen clearly, and regardless of what these people’s origins were, they couldn’t stop their breathing from becoming quicker. However... with only a dozen or so treasures and forty or so cultivators in the lead group, it was impossible to split them evenly, and most people were destined to return empty-handed. Everyone obviously knew this, so once they were ten metres from the Soaring Dragon Altar, everyone secretly began circulating their strength as their eyes darted about, hostility rapidly swelling up within all of them. Suddenly, there was a sound of something breaking through the air as the surrounding World Energy turned chaotic. A golden arrow had been shot by someone and was now flying towards a certain burly figure. “Damn it, I knew you were going to attack Father here since the beginning! Could you no longer hold back?” The burly man seemed to have been prepared long ago, so when he saw the enemy next to him attack, he immediately stretched out his hand and summoned a turquoise shield to protect his body. *Peng...* With a loud bang, although the golden arrow was quite powerful, it was still blocked successfully by the burly man. Seeing this situation, the person who made the sneak attack could not help staring in a daze. The burly man grinned fiercely as he withdrew his shield and then clenched his fists, Source Qi surging from his body as he punched out, “Tyrant King’s Holy Fist!” This was obviously a powerful Secret Technique, and the moment it flew out, some faint traces of Principle Strength swirled around it. It was obvious from this scene that this burly man had already touched the threshold of the Dao Source Realm and perhaps was just one step away from breaking through. From this fist wind, an aura that seemed to dominate and control the world lingered, causing the face of the cultivator who had previously attacked to pale. In a hurry, this man twisted his body whilst reaching out to summon a metre long sword into his hand at the same time. With a flick of his wrist, Source Qi poured into this long sword and the man’s expression became solemn. “Water Moon Mirror Flower!” Shouting, the man swung his sword in a half-circle, leaving behind a reflective afterglow. The Tyrant King’s Holy Fist arrived in the next instant but was completely blocked by this sword light mirror. The Origin King Realm Domains of these two, which had both reached the grand accomplishment stage, flared at the same time trying to suppress one another. *Kacha...* It seemed that even the surrounding space was unable to bear such a violent confrontation and small cracks began to appear in the next instant. “Good, good, good! Finally someone decent!” Seeing this, the burly man not only was not surprised, he instead laughed and wore an even more rampant expression. On the other hand, his opponent secretly grumbled bitterly, not having expected that the person he had just attacked at random in order to thin out the competition would actually be such a madman. With no other choice, he could only grit his teeth and meet his enemy head-on. Just as the battle between these two began, the forty or so cultivators in the lead group all took action, as if they had all negotiated to begin at this very moment. However, these people did not rush towards the Soaring Dragon Altar but instead turned to attack the nearest cultivator. All of a sudden, chaos broke out around the Soaring Dragon Altar. Sneak attacks and counterattacks were launched one after another. Often, a cultivator would start launching a sneak attack towards his or her target but was instead sneak attacked by another, forcing them to grit their teeth and turn to defend themselves. Some fought alone, some fought in tangled melees, and some tried to evade fighting altogether... These elite Origin Kings almost all belonged to Maplewood City, but they seemed to have become bitter enemies at this moment, and it was not long before the air was filled with the light of Martial Skills and artifacts. The cultivators further back saw this scene and were stunned for a time... But soon, many flashed looks of pleasant surprise, because this chaos meant that they still had a chance to obtain the treasures on the Soaring Dragon Altar! At the moment, they went all out to stimulate their strength and advance closer. However, their thoughts were obviously naïve. The cultivators in the first group were indeed fighting amongst themselves, but if someone from the outer groups tried to approach, those from the lead group would give up their battle and jointly attack the newcomer. It seemed that those in the first group only regarded themselves as real competitors, while all the latecomers were just a group of pitiful weaklings. How could such wastes be qualified to seize these precious treasures? After twenty or so from the outer groups died, the cultivators from the second group finally understood the situation and did not dare to approach at will. Yang Kai was actually just behind the cultivators in the second group and, when he saw this, he could not help frowning. If he wanted to get close to the Soaring Dragon Altar now, he would need to no doubt become the target of the cultivators in the first group. But if he did not close the gap, he wouldn’t be able to obtain anything from the Soaring Dragon Altar. As soon as he thought of this, he could not help shouting loudly, “Treasures belong to those who are destined for them! These cowards are far too overbearing trying to block our path! Friends, if you wish to leap over the Dragon Gate follow me!” After riling up the crowd, Yang Kai set an example and rushed up first. The cultivators in the second group were not willing to be blocked here in the first place, so when Yang Kai shouted out about the Dragon Gate, and they recalled what Qin Yu said before, all of them were filled with righteous indignation and responded to Yang Kai’s cry. Gathering in groups of three or five, they began charging forward with fierce determination. “Brat, you’ve got a sharp tongue, you can die first!” Soon, the two masters in front of Yang Kai turned their attention to him. These two masters had been fiercely fighting one another, but when they heard Yang Kai agitating the crowd, they both regarded him as a target. Since the two of them could join the lead group, obviously they were elites in the Origin King Realm, and under their joint efforts, even if they could not defeat a Dao Source master, they were definitely able to overwhelm ordinary Origin Kings. One person summoned a big axe and chopped towards Yang Kai, a brilliant glow radiating from the blade’s edge making it look like a giant meteor crashing to the ground. The other person stretched out his hand and summoned a small bell into it. Swinging the bell, an invisible shockwave was sent out and rippled towards Yang Kai. Yang Kai wore a solemn expression as he didn’t dare act careless, pushing his strength madly as he stepped forward and summoned a big sabre into his hands. Sending his Spiritual Energy into this sabre, he energized it and sent out an attack. With a brilliant flash, the sabre silently sliced through his target’s Knowledge Sea Defences and crashed into his Knowledge Sea. Within this person’s Knowledge Sea, a great storm surged and it seemed as if the ocean inside was being split in two. Massive waves surged up but instead of crashing down again, the waves strangely evaporated midair! The Knowledge Sea was the source of a cultivator’s Soul, and if the seawater in one’s Knowledge Sea evaporated, their Soul would take corresponding damage. This person reacted like he was struck by lightning, going stiff in place, his eyes filling with horror as he stared at Yang Kai in a daze, unable to open his mouth or even make any sound. The next moment, this person’s head slumped, and he fell directly to the ground and died! “What!?” The other man was shocked to see his previous opponent die just like that. He knew how difficult his opponent was as the two of them had just fought. Neither side had been able to gain any advantage over the other, but now a random Origin King had killed him in one blow. Origin Kings absolutely could not possess such strength, so the reason for this must be the sabre. But... just what kind of artifact could have such prestige? During this man’s momentary shock, Yang Kai’s figure flickered, dodged the attacks which had been sent out against him, and appeared right in front of his opponent while grinning widely and raising up the sabre in his hand again. Only now did this man discover just how strange this sabre was. The blade was actually pitch black and seemed to be almost immaterial in quality. What’s more, it gave off an inexplicable force that seemed to pierce into his Soul. It almost felt that if he stared at this blade long enough, his Soul would be sliced open. Feeling a stinging pain in his head, the man was awoken from his shock and hurriedly looked away. Soul Splitting Sabre! An Emperor Artifact which originally belonged to the Insect Emperor! After Yang Kai killed the Insect Emperor that year, he found two Emperor Artifacts, one was the Insect Enslavement Bracelet, and the other was the Soul Splitting Sabre. However, the powers of these two Emperor Artifacts were too great and Yang Kai was not strong enough to refine them at that time, so he could only set them aside temporarily. In several subsequent adventures, the Insect Enslavement Bracelet had been able to play some role. For example, Yang Kai had repelled a swarm of Illusory Void Butterflies in the Severed World, and below Blue Feather Sect’s Ice Cliff, he had stunned the Monster Insect Queen with it, allowing him to defeat it. With these experiences, Yang Kai realized the importance of Emperor Artifacts and had started to refine the Soul Splitting Sabre in his spare time. Although he had spent much energy and time on this project, Yang Kai was still unable to fully refine the Soul Splitting Sabre. Even if could use it now, the power he could extract was minimal compared to its potential. This was similar to the Annihilation Thunder Bead, which Yang Kai still could not fully utilize. However... Emperor Artifacts were still Emperor Artifact in the end. Even a trace of its true power was not something an Origin King Realm could resist. This was especially true of the Soul Splitting Sabre as it was able to cut through Spiritual Energy, wounding the Soul while disregarding the physical body, making it extremely difficult to guard against. The Soul Splitting Sabre seemed to be a Soul-type artifact, a treasure even rarer than defensive artifacts! What’s more, Yang Kai’s Soul was extremely powerful, so after using the Soul Splitting Sabre against an Origin King, how could his opponent possibly defend against it? After a single face-to-face encounter, the enemy’s Soul had shattered, and he had died on the spot. Yang Kai had done this deliberately. Right now, the lead group’s cultivators seemed to have reached an unspoken consensus to prevent cultivators from the second group from approaching the Soaring Dragon Altar. If he wanted to deter his enemies, he could only use overwhelming force to kill a few of them. By easily killing one, the others would be warned and no one would dare to stop him again. Sure enough, after this first person died, his original opponent, who saw Yang Kai standing in front of him, raising the Soul Splitting Sabre again and releasing black light from its blade, instinctually backed away in horror. This step backwards though... immediately triggered the Spirit Array arranged on the Soaring Dragon Altar.