Facing the disciples of the ancient clan, Ye Fan showed not the slightest reverence. Hands clasped behind his back, he stripped the other party of all dignity right then and there.

“You… you have guts!” The Ji Family disciple’s expression darkened immediately. “This is a grand gathering of Qu Province’s young cultivators — why are you causing a disruption, killing someone without cause?”

“How is there no cause? Did you not see him trying to kill me? Unfortunately for him, the result was not what he anticipated.”

The Ji Family disciple wore a look of righteous indignation, placing himself on the moral high ground, unwilling to be caught saying anything that could be turned against him. He challenged sharply: “I saw everything that just happened. Even though he said he would kill you, he had not actually harmed you — so why did you take his life?”

“By your reasoning, as long as he has not actually wounded or killed me — even if he strikes at me with intent to kill — he bears no responsibility?” Ye Fan’s expression was unmoved.

“He was no match for you; he could not have taken your life. Whatever the case, you should not have killed him!” The Ji Family disciple maintained his air of righteousness.

Ye Fan sneered. “What a joke. Am I supposed to wait until my life is actually hanging by a thread — until it is already a fact — before I am allowed to fight back and kill him? By then I would likely already be dead.”

Atop the severed peak, the gathered cultivators of Qu Province were everywhere, and none of them had expected that anyone would dare to stand against the Ji Family’s younger generation.

“Situ Feng merely spoke out of turn, and you killed a genius of southern Qu Province — that is going much too far.”

“Even though he swore he would kill you, he was no match for you. How could you have raised your hand against him?”

“What cultivator are you, coming from wherever you are and killing people — do you think Qu Province has no one of consequence?”

A few cultivators nearby echoed the Ji Family disciple, lending their voices to support him. Given his origins in an ancient clan, there was value in speaking up for him, if only to draw closer to such an association.

Beyond those, there were a few who simply followed the crowd — but they were the minority. Most people watched in silence. They had no desire to provoke the Ji Family, and they certainly were not about to help a cultivator of unknown origin.

Ye Fan laughed, which made the few who had spoken up furious — especially the Ji Family disciple.

“Situ Feng swore to kill you and ended up annihilated, reduced to ash — and you can still laugh?!”

Ye Fan rubbed his chin. “You already said it yourselves — he was the one who swore to kill me with a single slap, and he was the one who attacked me first with intent to kill. So… what more is there for you to say?”

The few who had been blindly echoing the crowd were immediately silenced. Upon reflection, they had nothing more to say, and even those who had spoken up for the Ji Family found it difficult to open their mouths again.

The Ji Family disciple said coldly, “Whatever you say, you should not have killed him. Know this — one ought to show mercy when one can.”

“Is that so?” Ye Fan smiled. “Then let me try this: I will see whether I can kill you with a single slap. Of course, I am only saying it — chances are I won’t actually manage to kill you. Afterwards, we can let it pass without a word, raise a cup together in good spirits. By your reasoning, I trust you won’t mind — and certainly won’t try to kill me for it?”

Hearing Ye Fan mock him in this way, the Ji Family disciple’s face darkened like stormwater. He demanded angrily, “It is clear you came here to cause trouble. Who exactly are you?”

Ye Fan’s body was veiled in drifting mist, his true appearance hidden. He stepped forward at an unhurried pace. “When reason fails, you start throwing accusations?”

“You clearly came here specifically to make trouble!”

“You’ve already reached your verdict — what can I possibly say in my own defense? Everything would be pointless.” Ye Fan chuckled.

Ancient clans had endured through the ages and passed down their lineages for hundreds of thousands of years — flourishing without decline, deep and unfathomable beyond reckoning, standing in a realm apart, feared and respected by every sect. Wherever the disciples of the Ji Family went, they were surrounded by people eager to flatter them, and no one dared show disrespect. Today, Ji Yunfeng had been repeatedly challenged and contradicted by Ye Fan, and his face had grown as dark as still water, with killing intent rising in his heart.

“This gathering was organized by my Ji Family and the Yaoguang Holy Ground, extending an invitation to the outstanding young cultivators of Qu Province. Who are you — how dare you behave so recklessly here?”

“Why am I the only one being asked to declare myself? I haven’t seen anyone else make such an announcement. Why single me out?” Ye Fan folded his arms. “Because I arrived and was immediately branded as reckless — the ancient clan truly projects such tremendous dominance.”

Boom!

An immense killing intent surged like a great lake stirring its waters, rolling in every direction. The Ji Family disciple’s body blazed outward with streams of divine radiance that coiled around him like true dragons circling.

“You came here today with ulterior motives — I will subdue you first!”

“That is far more tastefully put — if you want to kill me, just say so. There is no need for all these excuses. Very well — let us exchange a few moves.” Ye Fan stepped forward.

The expressions of everyone around them shifted. Someone who dared to openly challenge a disciple of an ancient clan must have extraordinary origins. Every single person was stunned and watched the scene with intense focus.

“The ancient clan tolerates no insult. You have brought this upon yourself today — I will capture and destroy you!” Ji Yunfeng’s face was dark and grim.

Ji Family disciples, when traveling abroad, were met everywhere with eager efforts to befriend them from disciples of other sects. They had never been made to suffer this kind of treatment. He had endured long enough and could hold himself back no longer.

“What is all this insufferable arrogance?” Ye Fan shook his head. “The ancient clan truly commands an overwhelming presence.”

The Ji Family had launched a massive manhunt for him, leaving him without peace even when he fled to the Northern Region, relentlessly driven from corner to corner. He had come here today precisely to strike back hard and slap the ancient clan across the face. He had no intention of retreating now.

“There is no need for the Ji Young Master to dirty his hands himself — allow me to bring this person to heel.” A young cultivator of Qu Province stepped forward.

“I will handle it myself.” Ji Yunfeng shook his head.

“Why use a great blade to butcher a chicken — I alone am sufficient.” The cultivator produced a blood-red box. “Please, Ji Young Master, merely lend me your presence.”

Hum!

Without further preamble, the cultivator struck. The crimson jade box cracked open a seam, and from within erupted a river of blood — reeking with a nauseating stench — flooding toward Ye Fan.

“The Nethergore Demon Box — how has that thing appeared again?! Was it not an artifact left behind by a demon king?!”

“That object can defile a golden body. Even a sacred physique cannot withstand it — it will dissolve into contaminated blood. A great master of the human race once fell because of this very thing.”

“It has appeared in the world again?! Was it not destroyed by that dying human great master? Could another demon king have arisen and newly forged one?”

Every spectator was shocked, their eyes fixed on the scene with anxious tension.

The river of blood surged toward him, crimson fog blotting out the sky. Above and below, in every direction, all was red. A bone-chilling cold reached into the depths of one’s soul, and a sense of terrible foreboding arose. Ye Fan braced himself, treating this as a dire threat.

Boom!

His physical body blazed with divine radiance, ten thousand rays of light — as though he were draped in celestial raiment — illuminating in all directions, brilliant and resplendent, supremely martial, difficult to look at directly.

Bang!

Ye Fan crossed both arms in a cradling arc. Within his embrace, a mountain took shape — ancient pines standing tall upon it, silver cascades pouring down its flanks, grand and towering, with a force that could crush heaven and earth.

The Mountain-Cradling Seal!

Ye Fan unleashed the Mountain-Cradling Seal through the Holy Combat Technique, meeting catastrophe with an earth-shaking seal art, divine power surging like a flood tide.

The mountain was so viscerally real it stole the breath from onlookers’ lungs. Even at a great distance, the sensation was that of Mount Tai pressing down from above, draining all strength from one’s limbs, and many people staggered and collapsed to the ground.

Hum!

The mountain expanded rapidly — like an ancient demon mountain descending upon the world — and came crashing down.

The pressure was simply too immense to endure. Many of those standing too close bled from their ears and noses, struck by the terrifying force.

Boom!

The river of blood surging through the sky was instantly shattered. The mountain loomed like the heavens themselves — irresistible, a divine might of ten thousand tons that seemed capable of flattening real peaks.

What flesh and blood in the Dao Palace Secret Realm could withstand that?

The face of that Qu Province cultivator changed. He murmured an incantation rapidly, causing the Nethergore Demon Box to enlarge and shoot skyward to meet the great mountain.

Waves of blood, nine surges high, each higher than the last, rolled toward the mountain and toward Ye Fan. At the same time, a crimson blood-mist, sharp as blade edges, keen as sword tips, came slashing toward him.

Ye Fan let out a sharp cry and drove the Mountain-Cradling Seal to its absolute limit, then hurled it outward. This was a scene of terrifying spectacle — a body of flesh and blood, hurling a mountain through the air. The sheer force of it made the hearts and souls of those watching crumble with dread.

Such power was simply too monstrous. Even the void seemed to cave inward under the pressure, rumbling and roaring as the mountain slammed into the blood-red box.

Boom!

Blood-light erupted to blot out the sky. A violent storm raged. The heavens above descended into chaos in an instant, like a region of primordial disorder — nothing but a blur of surging energies and blazing radiance in every direction.

Crack!

The hurled mountain collapsed, and the blood box shattered. Both were destroyed simultaneously in mid-air, emitting a horrifying aura.

Rumble!

High above, the sight was breathtaking. The Nethergore Demon Box burst apart with extreme violence, obliterating everything in its path.

Demonic blood rained across the sky. Rubble from the shattered mountain fell away. A savage tempest swept through the heavens, hurling many people off the ground — and that was merely the aftershock.

“This is too terrifying!”

“How could the Nethergore Demon Box — forged by a great master of the demon clan — have been cracked open? Who is this person?!”

“The Mountain-Cradling Seal is a supreme technique of the Northern Region. Several great sects and sacred grounds possess records of it. But even so, it should not have been enough to shatter the sacred artifact of a demon king.”

“You are wrong — the Nethergore Demon Box was destroyed by a great master of the human race long ago. What remains is merely a fragment of the original. Imagine how terrifying the true box must have been.”

Even so, the onlookers were aghast. The energy waves from that collision posed a devastating threat to cultivators in the Dao Palace Secret Realm — especially those below the third level of the Dao Palace, for whom it would be almost impossible to withstand.

And yet, the young man in the sky had simply hurled a mountain and smashed this demon artifact apart, leaving even the most hardened heart shuddering.

“Who is he — throwing a mountain with one hand…”

What manner of strength must that require? It was as if he were ripping mountains by sheer force and crushing the world with the force of his will — unstoppable!

High in the sky, blood-mist billowed. The nethergore — capable of defiling a golden body and destroying a sacred physique — could not touch Ye Fan at all, refined completely by him.

His mighty physical body flickered in and out of view within the mist, his form radiating crystalline, divine light. Every onlooker stared in speechless disbelief.

“How can this be? My Nethergore Box is destroyed…” The cultivator was left in a daze. He had intended to impress the Ji Family disciple with a show of strength so as to earn entry into the ancient clan — yet the treasured artifact he depended upon had been smashed to pieces in the most savage manner.

“Is that even… a human being? He threw a mountain?!” His lips were quivering — whether from fury or fear, it was impossible to say.

“That is the Mountain-Cradling Seal — the paramount supreme technique that was once the cornerstone art of a certain great sect in the distant past. After that sect perished, it spread outward, and many sects have since obtained records of it.” Ji Yunfeng’s expression had grown heavy and grave.

Ye Fan let out a cold snort and dove downward, driving toward the cultivator.

“Ji Young Master, save me!” The cultivator’s face drained of color on the spot. Even the piece of the Nethergore Box — a remnant fragment forged into a powerful artifact — had been shattered; he had absolutely no hope of being Ye Fan’s match.

“Do not worry — with me here, he cannot touch you!” Ji Yunfeng’s confidence was unshakable.

“Who are you to stand in my way? If I want to kill someone, can you stop me?!” Ye Fan closed in rapidly, his brow blazing with divine radiance.

“Not good!” Ji Yunfeng — and this could not be denied — was a remarkable figure among the Ji Family’s younger generation. His instincts sensed danger in an instant, and he retreated swiftly. This was his “innate primal perception” — a spiritual intuition possessed only by a rare few among cultivators.

Ye Fan’s immensely powerful divine sense materialized, invincible and supreme. From the center of his brow, a golden divine sword shot outward, splitting the owner of the Nethergore Demon Box apart with a single strike, leaving his corpse suspended in the void.

“Who are you?!” Ji Yunfeng bellowed.

He had just declared in front of everyone that he would protect that cultivator — and in the next breath, Ye Fan had charged in and killed the man in a single exchange. It was as though Ji Yunfeng had just been struck hard across the face, a loud and humiliating slap.

“You will know. After today, the entire Northern Region will know.”

Ye Fan struck — and came out immediately with the Mountain-Cradling Seal!

The mountain loomed across the sky — dense and heavy, towering and magnificent — pressing downward with overwhelming force, causing the heavens themselves to tremble.

“Severing-Heaven Finger!” Ji Yunfeng roared. His right hand thrust out. His finger was like a dragon’s shear — as transparent as jade — and cut upward through the sky to meet the Mountain-Cradling Seal.