Li Changqing walked forward a few steps, a trace of a mocking smile appearing on his face. “This is a matter between Liu Yiyi and Wang Yan. If they’re willing to make an exchange, they exchange — aren’t you overstepping, Ye Fan?”

“Crack!”

Ye Fan said nothing at all. He swung his right hand hard and delivered a slap directly across his face — the sound of it stunned everyone present. Li Changqing flew sideways more than two meters like a scarecrow, and one could imagine how enormous the force of that slap was.

He crashed to the ground. Half his face immediately swelled up. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His head went blank and dizzy. After a moment he finally cried out in fury: “You…”

Yet Ye Fan didn’t even spare him a glance. When contempt comes from the depths of one’s being, it takes the form of complete disregard — treating him as empty air, as though he simply did not exist.

“Hand it over!” Ye Fan still had only two words, watching Liu Yunzhi and Wang Yan with calm eyes.

Li Changqing struggled to his feet, furious to the utmost, and charged forward quickly, wanting to grab Ye Fan by the collar. Unfortunately for him, before his fingers even reached the edge of Ye Fan’s clothing, Ye Fan swung a backhand slap across the other side of his face — still without looking at him, still completely ignoring him — and slapped him flying like one swats a fly.

The same solid, full-force slap — Li Changqing sailed through the air, crashed into a large tree, and was thoroughly dazed.

“Hand it over!” Ye Fan still uttered only those two words, watching Wang Yan and Liu Yunzhi with calm eyes.

This time Wang Yan was completely cowed. Her gaze darted about evasively, not daring to meet Ye Fan’s eyes. She looked to the side and said irrelevant things: “I never said I wouldn’t give it back — I’ve been discussing it with her this whole time…”

But her confidence was truly too weak. Her words trailed off, and she changed course: “If Yiyi has changed her mind, I’ll give it back to her — can’t I?”

With that she removed the gleaming string of prayer beads from her wrist and made to hand it to Ye Fan. But at that moment, Liu Yunzhi — who had been silent until now — spoke up: “Ye Fan, isn’t this a bit too domineering? What do you take Li Changqing for?”

Only now did Li Changqing finally recover, shouting and raging on the spot, readying himself to charge forward once more. Pang Bo beside him curled his lip with contempt: “Bringing it upon yourself — if you don’t believe me, keep charging over and see what happens.”

Hearing these words, Li Changqing immediately lost his nerve. He shouted and clamored from a distance but simply could not bring himself to take another step forward.

“Why did you treat Li Changqing like that?” Liu Yunzhi demanded of Ye Fan.

“Why did you hit me?” Li Changqing screamed in fury.

“Do I need to explain myself and argue with a fly? I just swat it away.” Ye Fan said these words to Liu Yunzhi — and still didn’t spare Li Changqing a single glance.

“You… what are you saying?” At that moment, Li Changqing’s cheeks were swollen, his face cycling between colors, so furious he nearly coughed up blood. He could now see clearly that Ye Fan regarded even Liu Yunzhi with contempt — and for him, it was outright dismissal, not even worth engaging with. The blow to his pride was genuinely severe.

Ye Fan extended his right hand forward. Wang Yan quickly placed the prayer beads in it, not daring to meet his gaze, and stepped back several paces.

“We all know that Yiyi has had a very difficult few years — she’s suffered serious blows, and her personality and state of mind have changed. She’s become very timid and lacks confidence. That kind of psychological wound requires a long time to heal. I would suggest you keep yourself in check — watch what you say and do, and don’t bully her when she’s in this state. Have some basic decency.” Ye Fan delivered this warning to Wang Yan in a very low voice.

Hearing him say something so pointed, Wang Yan’s face went a little pale on the spot — ashamed, furious, but above all afraid. She stepped back several paces and did not dare say another word.

“Ye Fan, you’ve gone too far!” Liu Yunzhi’s expression darkened.

The others watched all of this unfold, saying nothing. Just as everyone assumed Ye Fan was about to turn and walk away, he suddenly swung his fist and drove it hard into Liu Yunzhi’s face.

In an instant, blood spurted from Liu Yunzhi’s nose and mouth, his face a bloom of crimson, as he toppled over backwards onto the ground.

“You…” He never remotely expected that Ye Fan would strike him as well.

“I let things slide with you and you keep provoking me. Did you really think I was endlessly good-natured?” Ye Fan gave him a brief, cool glance, contempt filling his eyes, then turned and walked away.

“Ye Fan!” Liu Yunzhi gritted his teeth, lying on the ground, wiping the blood from his nose and mouth, and called out: “Just you wait!”

Pang Bo heard these words and immediately stormed over, raised his foot, and delivered a kick. “Who are you telling to wait? Tell me — what are you planning to do?”

“Bang, bang, bang…”

He delivered more than ten kicks in succession, sending Liu Yunzhi skidding far across the ground, until he finally passed out entirely.

The others stood by and witnessed all of this. Not a single one of them said a word in protest — for quite a few of them privately found Liu Yunzhi unpleasant as well. In their old environment it might have been one thing, but in this new world there was no need to defer to whatever so-called status he once held.

And even the two or three who wanted to speak up for Liu Yunzhi all chose to stay silent, for they knew that once Ye Fan showed his edge, it was best not to provoke him.

“You all saw that, didn’t you…” Li Changqing still hadn’t read the situation, and continued to shout and bluster at those around them.

No one responded except for Pang Bo. Having finished kicking Liu Yunzhi, Pang Bo walked over in long strides and answered in kind: “Saw it — every bit of it.”

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Pang Bo’s large foot worked like a sandbag drill, kicking Li Changqing so that he rolled along the ground like a dead pig, screaming in pain without pause.

The group didn’t linger over this. They set off again. Wang Yan helped Liu Yunzhi and Li Changqing up, and the three of them trailed at the very back of the line.

At that moment, Liu Yunzhi and Li Changqing were grinding their teeth in rage. They had just lost all face — it had been utterly humiliating. At the same time, they felt a genuine and nauseating need to vomit blood: it was now evident that their past actions had not registered with Ye Fan at all — he had never taken any of it to heart, and seemed to regard their every move with utter indifference.

This breezy, detached contempt dealt the most devastating blow of all to their pride. It was as though they were nothing but jesters — too beneath his notice to bother with, ignored until he finally tired of them and swatted them away like flies, without ever once treating them as equals worth engaging with.

There is no greater insult than that — to be treated as alley cats and stray dogs, never considered a real opponent.

An hour later the group crossed yet another low mountain, and could now clearly see a cluster of buildings on that tall distant mountain ahead. The roars of beasts in the surrounding mountain terrain had grown louder and louder — they were evidently close to walking free of the Primordial Forbidden Land.

“Let’s walk a little further ahead and then stop for a rest.” After trekking through the mountain terrain for most of the day, everyone was genuinely exhausted.

After crossing yet another mountain peak, the group finally saw birds appearing in the area around them. Before long they entered a world of life and vitality — bird calls, beast roars, lush and abundant plant life, brimming with living energy. Gone was the dead and stifling stillness.

“There’s a rabbit over there!”

“And a badger!”

Upon spotting wild animals, quite a few people could barely keep from drooling. Eating nothing but wild fruit had left their mouths craving something heartier.

“Hey — there are characters on that stone wall!” At that moment, someone noticed that ahead lay a stone face, carved with several enormous ancient characters.

The first three ancient characters everyone had already seen before: “Primordial Forbidden.” The fourth character was now confirmed to be the character for “land” or “ground.”

“Why are we seeing these four characters again — does this mean we haven’t walked out of the forbidden land?”

“Wrong — this actually proves that we have walked out. This should be the boundary of the Primordial Forbidden Land. We’ve finally made it out safely.”

“Let’s rest here for a while. I believe it won’t be long before we encounter signs of people.”

Among the group, two or three people gathered together, splitting into several small circles, and all sat down to begin thinking about what lay ahead. It was evident they were bound to go their separate ways.

“I’m going to check on what Liu Yunzhi and the other two are up to — something feels off about them.” Pang Bo said this, stood up, and slipped into the forest not far away.

Before long, Pang Bo returned and spoke several words close to Ye Fan’s ear.

“We’re about to leave this mountain range, and the group will certainly go their separate ways. This mysterious world likely truly does have gods, and immortals who do not age or die. If we leave those three behind and they rise to power someday, that will eventually be a disaster, and by then the trouble will be immense. It would be better to eliminate that possibility entirely.” Ye Fan stood up as he said these words — his tone light and unhurried — yet the fate of three people had already been decided.