The Azure Mist Sect had eighteen verdant peaks, each veiled in drifting mist, with flowing springs and cascading waterfalls, all in a dreamlike haze.

Beneath the green summits, streams murmured and wound their way past, grass and trees exuding fresh vitality, a faint emerald haze drifting in the air.

Ye Fan stood amid the green mountains and blue waters, taking in the natural beauty of the place. Faced with ten powerful cultivators, he showed not the slightest tension.

“So it’s you — the one who wants me to relocate, wishing to found a sect here?” The Azure Mist Sect leader’s hair was jet black, his long beard flowing freely, his gaze as sharp as lightning. He appeared to be only around forty, his blood and breath especially vigorous — as imposing as a furnace radiating heat.

“Indeed — that is precisely my intention. This place is beautiful in its mountains and clear in its waters, and suits me perfectly.” Ye Fan stood before the pool, rippling light playing across the surface, casting long reflections of the figures standing around him.

“So young, yet so brazen. You take a fancy to Azure Mist’s scenery and simply want to claim it as your own — is this the moral upbringing your elders gave you?” A Supreme Elder beside him rebuked him coldly.

Ye Fan laughed in spite of himself. “Are you lecturing me on morality? Those who died digging for source — whom should they go to with their grievances? Should their hatred fall on the bandits, or should they gnash their teeth at you? What I am doing is exactly what you have been doing all along. If you find it brazen, why have you inflicted it on others? Compared to you, what I’m doing is far less. A sect — however large or small — represents a lineage of inheritance. Yet you indulge bandits, plunder in all directions, burn and kill the innocent. You are nothing but a malignant growth and a source of evil in this land!”

“Stop your baseless accusations!” Another Supreme Elder shouted.

Ye Fan laughed out loud with cold mockery, then said: “I have forced my way to your door and there is no one else here. You need not put on such a hypocritical pretense — your dignity, in my eyes, is not even as clean as the dirt on the ground.”

“Every sect’s growth requires certain forceful methods — otherwise it is very difficult to become strong.” The Azure Mist Sect leader said gravely.

“Ha ha ha…!” Ye Fan laughed aloud, and then his expression gradually grew cold. “What high-sounding justification. What righteous and stern language.”

“Perhaps it was excessive at times, but it has not harmed the foundations of this place.” The Azure Mist leader had not yet shown his temper. He answered calmly, vaguely sensing something was wrong — fearing that Ye Fan might be a descendant of some great power.

“Only ‘perhaps excessive’?” Ye Fan turned abruptly, pointing toward Lei Bo not far away. “He once had a sister — young and beautiful, graceful and dignified, a happy family living in harmony. And then? You indulged your disciples in banditry, committed acts fit for animals, driving a young woman to die in humiliation, casting this whole family under a pall of grief.”

Not far away, Lei Bo clutched his own hair, crouching on the ground in agony.

“Your disciples acted without restraint, abducting source-seekers from village after village, and anyone who refused was beaten — not even men in their sixties and seventies were spared, beaten half to death.”

“Those were merely isolated incidents.”

“Isolated incidents?” Ye Fan shook his head. “In a stone village of only a few dozen households, one young woman was violated, one elder nearly beaten to death, and several more were killed. Cast your eyes across five hundred li — how many tragedies do you suppose there have been? Can you still call yourselves cultivators? Did you establish this sect just so you could plunder and burn more legitimately?”

“Brother Ye, you must avenge my sister!” Lei Bo cried out from a distance.

“Elder Zhang Wu was beaten nearly to death but at least survived.” Wang Shu was also overcome with emotion. “But three of the childhood friends I grew up with alongside Lei Bo were beaten to death…”

“What more do you have to say?” Ye Fan bore down on them with his gaze.

“Only by making ourselves powerful can we maintain stability in this region. When the time comes, all the bandits will naturally disappear.” An elderly Supreme Elder of advanced age spoke.

“Do you feel no pang of conscience saying such things?” Ye Fan swept his gaze across them. “I believe that only by eliminating every single one of you can this land be freed from the root of evil and restored to peace!”

“Such arrogance — do you truly believe you alone can destroy an entire sect?” A hot-tempered Supreme Elder’s brows shot up.

“Which great power’s lineage do you come from?” someone demanded — this was their greatest concern. If he turned out to be a disciple of some major power, killing him here might bring catastrophic consequences.

“I am a wandering cultivator — you have no need to be wary.” Ye Fan moved with effortless ease, advancing toward the Azure Mist Sect leader.

The Azure Mist Sect’s various Supreme Elders exchanged glances, killing intent emerging plainly on their faces. One of them said: “Kill him — there is no other choice.”

The Azure Mist Sect leader’s expression darkened, and he shouted toward his disciples in the distance: “Seal the mountain gate — do not let these three escape!”

They had already discerned that Ye Fan was at the same cultivation realm as they were. Even with his astonishing combat strength, he could not possibly withstand the combined assault of ten people — even the young masters of the great sacred grounds in their youth might not have been able to do that.

“We had originally intended to spare your life, but since you give yourself no way out, do not blame us for being ruthless in silencing you here!”

“Regardless of your origins, for now we can only treat you as a wandering cultivator and cut you down!”

Cold laughter rang out from every side — they had clearly made up their minds to kill Ye Fan here, giving him no chance to survive.

“After hearing your words, my conscience is clear. The Azure Mist Sect will henceforth become history — it will never exist again!” Ye Fan’s robes fluttered around him as he stood by the pool. The grass and flowers around him were fragrant and lush, setting him apart from all grime and impurity. There was no killing intent, yet all who saw him felt a chill in their hearts.

From a distance, the Azure Mist disciples were frightened, retreating quickly. They could not forget the scene from moments ago — this was a young demon king. He appeared refined and harmless in appearance, but when he moved, he overwhelmed the soul, his power without rival.

“Strike — cut him down. We cannot let him leave!”

Ten cultivators of the Secret Realm of the Dao Palace moved simultaneously. Though each had only cultivated a single divine manifestation, the combined force of ten was still terrifying enough.

Their weapons converged in unison, attacking toward Ye Fan.

Only now, at his current cultivation level, did Ye Fan fully understand the terror of Dao Palace cultivators — with a divine manifestation driving the weapons, the force was multiplied many times over.

For example: the Azure Mist Sect leader’s bronze lamp — his Heart Divine Treasury transformed into a sun and sank into the bronze lamp, the two becoming one, illuminating the vast sky.

It was like a heavenly lamp flown in from beyond the world, hanging suspended in the high sky, showering down curtain after curtain of flame toward Ye Fan. The scorching heat evaporated an entire waterfall nearby, filling the air with rising vapor — like an immortal realm.

Boom!

Ye Fan swung his fist toward the bronze lamp. The force of combat surged like a tide, sweeping away the lingering clouds and scattering the water mist between the green peaks in an instant, revealing a clear and open sky.

His golden fist cut through the air like an ancient war chariot rumbling across the heavens, causing the sky itself to shudder continuously.

This formidable divine power surged like an ocean, leaving the Azure Mist Sect leader and Supreme Elders pale-faced. It was simply too terrifying.

Such a young man, at this age, possessing such an overwhelming force of battle — either a rare talent of the age, or an elite disciple cultivated by a sacred ground.

Already locked in combat — there is no peaceful resolution now. Subdue him — whether to refine him or strike him down, we will investigate his origins and decide. These people were deeply apprehensive inwardly.

The weapons of the ten powerhouses converged, blocking Ye Fan’s golden fist. Flames billowed to the sky, lightning split the air, and ringing divine sounds reverberated across the heavens.

This young man is too powerful — he must be eliminated! The Azure Mist Sect leader felt a chill in his heart, deeply troubled. He was increasingly worried: if Ye Fan was allowed to grow further, in just another year or two, they would have no chance whatsoever.

A Supreme Elder let out a clear whistle. From his mouth he expelled a stream of dark light, and his hands formed seals, shooting out eighty-one black lotus flowers to escort that stream of dark light, hewing down toward Ye Fan.

The others, seeing this, also made their moves, pressing their attack forward.

“Black Lotus Soul Ignition — Shatter Form and Destroy Spirit!” The Supreme Elder bellowed.

Eighty-one black lotus flowers bloomed open, black petals one after another, intertwining with that human-shaped dark light at the center, forming into a Heavenly Specter that lunged toward Ye Fan.

This was a powerful secret technique, intended to rend open Ye Fan’s soul — it could devour divine power, tear through his protective light barrier, and act directly upon the primal source of a person’s spiritual sense.

“No more than firefly light!” Ye Fan was unafraid. With a light shout from his lips, both hands moved in an arc, and once again he unleashed the killing arts of the Nine Secrets.

The Boundless Great Sea!

Behind him, an ocean appeared — its waters entirely golden, rolling up towering waves a thousand layers deep.

As his fist thrust forward, ten thousand acres of golden ocean transformed into a great pale dragon stretched across the sky, soaring with Ye Fan’s punch and surging toward the front.

This was a killing intent that shook heaven and earth, a power of attack beyond all reckoning — the sea rising and the dragon ascending, its roar circling nine heavens, resonating across the entire Azure Mist Sect.

Crushing all before it, reducing it to dust!

The eighty-one black lotus flowers were shattered to pieces by the golden dragon-fist, and the human-shaped Heavenly Specter at the center was torn apart and ground to powder.

“Don’t let him escape!” Ye Fan pressed forward, unwilling to let the opponent get away.

Everyone was startled — Ye Fan’s offensive power was too overwhelming; no one else could stop him. The Supreme Elder at the front was completely locked in.

He shot forward, the sea rising and the dragon ascending, soaring across the sky, stirring up wind and clouds — like a divine master arriving in the world!

Pop!

Ye Fan’s fist struck, and the Supreme Elder’s body cracked apart inch by inch before dissolving like an illusion, vanishing in an instant.

A powerful Supreme Elder — killed with a single fist!

The remaining nine were filled with disbelief. This kind of killing technique made every one of them tremble inwardly.

Just now, that Supreme Elder had been used as the blade’s edge, thrusting at the very front, while they formed the body of the blade behind him — it was not quite a combined strike of all ten, but close enough.

Yet the opponent had directly shattered the blade’s edge, cleanly and neatly cutting him down — and the shock of it made every heart lurch.

From a distance, the Azure Mist disciples were even more terrified: ten powerful cultivators had joined forces to surround and kill a single person, yet one Supreme Elder had been killed in return!

“Which sacred ground’s lineage do you truly come from?” The Azure Mist Sect leader asked in a grave voice.

“Must one come from a sacred ground to possess this kind of strength?” Ye Fan’s back ocean vanished. He moved like a drifting white cloud, stepping forward with graceful ease, light and fluid.

“Seize and refine him!”

Nine powerful cultivators — the divine manifestations within their Dao Palaces all burst forth, eighteen figures forming a vast encircling net, sealing Ye Fan in the center.

Yet Ye Fan’s expression remained placid, moving with ease and freedom, his left hand forming the Moon Seal, his right hand forming the Solar Seal — as though he were pushing the sun and moon into motion.

Yes — something awe-inspiring happened.

A brilliant moon the size of a millstone slowly revolved before his left hand. A blazing sun, also the size of a millstone, gently rotated before his right hand.

Supreme pressure radiated outward — heaven and man in unity. He was like a divine being in human form, pushing the sun and moon through the heavens!

Even hiding at a great distance, the Azure Mist disciples couldn’t help trembling. Such offensive secret techniques were unheard of and unwitnessed — a killing intent of overwhelming power pressed down over them, making them feel a cold that reached into the depths of their bones.

“His combat power is too terrifying!” The Azure Mist Supreme Elders’ expressions changed as they struggled with great difficulty to hold their ground against Ye Fan.

“Even the young masters of the great sacred grounds in their youth couldn’t have been like this.”

“Could he truly be a young sacred master? How else could he have combat power like this?!”

“If he is not a disciple of a sacred ground, then his potential is even more fearsome — could this be the legendary divine physique of legend?!”

Ye Fan’s left hand formed the Moon Seal, right hand formed the Solar Seal — pushing the millstone-sized moon and blazing sun across the sky, rolling over the heavens above, shaking the high air, irresistible and unstoppable.