Ji Xia, relying on her Divine Light Escape Talisman, transformed into lightning and narrowly evaded the crushing force of the Primordial Yellow-Black Qi. Even so, her injuries were far from light. Burning with hatred for Ye Fan, she said icily, “I’ll tear you apart first, then send Miss Ziyue on her way!”
She spread her five fingers wide, and five divine rainbow streams shot out, snatching toward Ye Fan.
This was exactly the opportunity Ye Fan had been waiting for. His physical body was supremely powerful — close-quarters combat was precisely what he feared least!
A pair of golden fists swung out with tremendous force, instantly causing the very space around them to collapse inward!
“You—” Ji Xia recoiled in shock, stumbling backward on the spot.
But it was already too late. With the two of them at such close range, Ye Fan was not about to give her any opening. With his first punch, he shattered all five streams of divine light and crushed her outstretched fingers.
“Ahhh—” Ji Xia let out a wretched scream. Light blazed within her body as she scrambled to summon a sacred treasure.
Boom!
Ye Fan’s second punch was already in motion. The sacred treasure hadn’t even cleared her body before the golden fist hammered it back inside.
Ji Xia’s Bitter Sea shattered on the spot!
Ye Fan’s fists had surpassed the power of sacred treasures — at close range, nothing could stop him.
Ji Xia screamed in agony. Light erupted from every inch of her body as she tried to detonate herself from within and deal him a crippling blow.
At that very moment, Ye Fan’s third punch landed — boom! — striking her squarely in the chest with bone-crushing force, punching clean through!
Kaboom!
Ji Xia was torn apart, her body fragmenting outward in every direction. Ye Fan had beaten her to death with three bare-fisted blows.
“You just punched a cultivator of the Other Shore Realm to death with your bare hands…” Ji Ziyue clicked her tongue. “You really are nothing more than a human-shaped savage beast!”
Ye Fan’s fourth fist hung suspended in midair — the final blow he had never thrown. A wisp of Primordial Yellow-Black Qi surfaced around it and then slowly dissipated as he drew his fist back.
This unsettled him even as it filled him with a certain quiet thrill. Throwing consecutive punches sometimes drew out the Primordial Yellow-Black Qi. If he could learn to command it at will, these fists of his would become something truly terrifying.
“You, you…” Ji Ziyue sized him up with her wide eyes. “Even a cultivator from the Dao Palace’s secret realm could fall into serious trouble if they didn’t know what they were up against and ended up standing next to you.”
Ye Fan turned and looked at Ji Ziyue. “Do you think your cousin will show up here?”
“Hard to say…” Ji Ziyue’s expression clouded with worry. She said in an irritated tone, “I’ve nearly been done in by you. The situation out there is complicated — if my whereabouts are exposed, I might actually be in more danger than you are.”
Ye Fan shook his head. “The internal affairs of your Ji Family are truly complicated and ruthless…”
“You don’t understand!” Ji Ziyue shot him a sideways glance and offered no rebuttal. She simply sighed. “Ji Xia… why did it have to come to this…”
She gathered some leaves and spread them over the scattered remains.
Ye Fan paid little mind to it. But at that moment, a radiant divine glow erupted all at once from Ji Ziyue’s entire body — a surging, powerful aura exploding out of her in an instant.
“You—” Ye Fan was greatly startled. He spun on his heel and broke into motion, launching himself skyward.
But the space around them began to twist and warp, rippling like rings spreading across still water. Ji Ziyue was sacred and resplendent; with herself as the center, a hazy luminescence flowed outward, locking everything in place.
Only then did Ye Fan notice what she held in her hand — a talisman that blazed like a bolt of lightning. It was cracked apart, yet threads of divine power still flowed from it, and it was this that had broken the seal Ji Ziyue had been placed under.
“The Divine Light Escape Talisman — given to Ji Xia by Elder Sister Biyue, so she could transform into lightning and track down my whereabouts, intending to harm me. To think it ended up shattering here and saving my life instead.”
Ji Ziyue let out a soft laugh. Her entire bearing radiated boundless self-assurance, glowing and luminous. Her skin was flawless crystal, and a saintly aura wrapped itself around her like a second skin.
In this moment, she was as fresh as blossoms heaped with snow, as light as a spring breeze dancing through flowers, as clear and serene as moonlight scattered across the night sky. She looked utterly untouched by dust — ethereal, sacred, pure.
She turned and looked at Ye Fan, and at once a smile bloomed across her face. A small dimple appeared on her left cheek, making her look playful and endearing.
“A certain someone,” she said, “has been taking care of me these past few days. Tell me — how should I repay you?”
Having come this far, Ye Fan had nothing left to be shy about. “Pledge yourself to me,” he said without a care in the world. “That’ll do.”
Ji Ziyue smiled sweetly — a smile so warm it could melt frost — and took a few delicate steps forward, her figure swaying with effortless grace. She reached out and pinched his cheeks. “You little brat,” she said. “You actually dare to say something like that to me…”
“Hey, hey, hey — I, Ji Ziyue, just risked my life to save yours, all right? You can’t turn around and bite the hand that feeds you…” Ye Fan’s conscience was not entirely clear.
“Well, at least you had some decency — you didn’t abandon me and run. If you had, you’d already be flat on the ground right now.” Ji Ziyue tilted her head, looking at him, that sweet smile still resting on her face the whole time.
But somehow, the smile only made Ye Fan’s skin crawl all the more. “What exactly are you planning?” he asked.
Ji Ziyue’s smile turned utterly bewitching. “I want to bite you!” she declared. Her small, pearly little canine teeth ground together with a soft clicking sound — and then she bit down.
She had been held captive for so long. The thing she had wanted most was to sink her teeth into Ye Fan a few solid times. Nothing else would vent the fury she had built up inside her.
Ye Fan was sealed by her power and couldn’t move a muscle. Even with a precious body, without his divine energy circulating freely, there was a limit to what he could endure. He immediately bared his teeth and wailed, “Does it really have to be this enthusiastic—”
Then came a full-throated howl of protest. Ji Ziyue’s hatred for him was thorough and unrelenting; she bit down again and again.
“Men and women should not touch — you can’t do this!” Ye Fan shouted.
“Scream all you like — you could tear your throat raw and it wouldn’t help one bit…” Ji Ziyue smiled sweetly, her small canine teeth working steadily.
Ye Fan was completely speechless. No matter how he heard those words, they sounded deeply, deeply wrong.
“I say, Ji Ziyue, show a little mercy — you’re going to turn me into a sieve at this rate…”
“A little brat of only fourteen years, yet you’ve got the cunning of someone three times your age — bullying me like this…” Ji Ziyue said bitterly, and bit Ye Fan squarely on the ear.
Ye Fan felt as though he had been thrown into a furnace of boiling water and raging flame. This particular form of punishment was something he had never encountered before in his life. “Ji Ziyue, don’t you think you’re going too far?!” he shouted.
“Too far is exactly where I’m going — I’m going to bite you to death…” Her smile never faltered as she kept grinding away.
“This behavior is completely unladylike. Biting people is most undignified…” Ye Fan was so thoroughly bitten that he felt like crying without being able to shed a single tear.
“Scream! Go ahead and scream! Scream your throat raw!” Ji Ziyue looked so lively and beautiful in that moment, yet her conduct left Ye Fan entirely without words.
“You’re being indecent,” Ye Fan said, very reluctantly letting those words leave his mouth. The roles here were completely backwards from how they ought to be.
“Pfft — you little brat, barely fourteen years old. What do you even know about indecency?” Ji Ziyue grabbed his cheeks and kneaded them with force.
“Ji Ziyue, you’re going to be an immortal someday — this is entirely too undignified…”
“Immortals are still people. People still have anger. You’ve been bullying me for so long — I’d be happy to bite you to death.”
“Ahh, ahh, ahh—” Ye Fan cried out.
Ji Ziyue bit him once more, then finally stepped back. “What are you shrieking about?” she asked.
“I’ve been subjected to indecency by a delinquent young woman…”
Ji Ziyue’s face instantly flushed a deep crimson. “You little brat — still mouthing off after all that! You really are asking for it!”
“All right, all right, I give up — no more biting. I’ve gone completely limp.”
“Pfft — the things that come out of your mouth.” Having vented more than half of her frustration, Ji Ziyue finally began to feel a touch of embarrassment. A rosy blush rose beautifully across her fine features.
“We’re even now, so you can let me go, right?”
“Keep dreaming — this has barely even started.” Ji Ziyue cupped his chin in her hand. The small dimple at the corner of her cheek flickered in and out of view, and her smile was utterly disarming. “You little brat — not only did you set your sights on my family’s ancient scripture, you actually dared to flirt with me. You’ve got some nerve.”
“Just tell me what you want,” Ye Fan said, lacking the energy for anything more.
“Don’t look so dejected. Come now — give your elder sister a smile.” Ji Ziyue cupped Ye Fan’s chin and narrowed her wide eyes into crescent moons, her smile radiant as sunlight.
“I feel like our roles need a serious adjustment…”
When Ji Ziyue heard that, her smile grew even more brilliant. “I’ll make sure to give you a very thorough welcome!” she declared.
“Ahhh—” Another round of suffering commenced.
Half a day later, Ye Fan was finally released. The bite marks across his body were arranged in neat, orderly rows — impressively regular.
“Give me half of the Primordial Yellow-Black Qi!”
“I can’t control it. There’s no way I can draw it out.”
“Liar!”
…
By comparison, Ji Ziyue could be considered soft-hearted — she refrained from tormenting Ye Fan with more extreme measures.
“You’re full of secrets. I intend to uncover them one by one — the green copper block, the Primordial Qi of Ten Thousand Things, and your precious body…” She cast a sideways glance at Ye Fan, then continued. “My cousin is coming to kill me. If we cross paths with her, I’ll create an opening for you to get close to her side. Given the sheer durability of your physical body, you’ll certainly make her pay dearly!”
“You’re using me as cannon fodder,” Ye Fan said flatly, rolling his eyes. “If my body were strong enough for that, you wouldn’t have been able to seal me.”
“I carry a hidden treasure. As long as my divine energy is running steadily, you naturally won’t be able to cause mayhem at my side.” Ji Ziyue shot him a sideways glance. “My cousin will never guard against you. When the time comes, you’ll certainly be able to land a blow. Your existence is like a blade hidden in darkness — I intend to give her a very unpleasant surprise!”
“I’d like to see for myself exactly who is after me. Once the situation settles, I’m going to root every single one of them out.” Ji Ziyue felt that the situation outside was far too volatile to risk exposing herself. She intended to go into hiding for now and observe in secret, identifying who was moving against her. Then something suddenly occurred to her, and a gleam of delight appeared in her eyes. “Now that I calculate the timing — the Taixuan Sect’s disciple recruitment period is almost here. What if we take refuge inside the Taixuan Sect?”
The mountain ranges of this region formed the territory of the Taixuan Sect, with the one hundred and eight main peaks not far from their current location.
The Taixuan Sect’s influence was vast. Throughout this entire region, only the Ji Family and the Sacred Ground of Yao Guang could compare to them — no other sect could suppress them.
“Even our Ji Family would not lightly provoke the Taixuan Sect. If there is any place in this region that is truly safe, it is undoubtedly that sect. The Ji Family will not send people searching inside it — so long as we hide within, there will be no danger.”
Two days later, Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue appeared within the mountain ranges belonging to the Taixuan Sect.
Ahead of them, great mountain peaks rose in layer upon layer — imposing and magnificent, yet possessing a graceful beauty as well. Truly, the word “grand” did not do them justice.
Among them, the one hundred and eight main peaks were the most splendid of all. Of course, it was impossible to take them all in at a glance; only a dozen or so were within sight — immortal cranes dancing through the air, divine halls drifting among the mists, clouds and haze winding through the peaks in a scene of profound tranquility.
They blended into the crowd of those who had come to seek a master, and entered through the sect’s gate without incident.
“Here, there are one hundred and eight main peaks. Let’s pick one that’s more remote and overlooked.” That was Ye Fan’s suggestion.
“Agreed. That seems right.”
Within the Taixuan Sect, many disciples were stationed before the mountain gate maintaining order.
Suddenly, Ye Fan spotted a familiar silhouette — white robes flowing, a figure graceful and upright, strikingly beautiful and otherworldly.
“She’s actually here…” A jolt went through Ye Fan’s heart. He had already recognized her — it was Li Xiaoman. Although he had long since guessed she could not have died in the ancient forbidden land, he had never expected her to have joined the Taixuan Sect.
“Run into someone you know?” Ji Ziyue offered a captivating smile. “Little brat, that look in your eyes is a bit off. It’s all right — if you have a grievance, your elder sister will help you vent it.”