“Grandfather—!” Xu Yuan was stunned — then overjoyed, crying out at the top of his lungs. “Old man, kill them!”

“Xu Tianhong…” Tu Fei was greatly alarmed. He stumbled back several paces, retreating.

“Could you spare my grandson?” Xu Tianhong’s face was expressionless. He was only a strand of divine sense, yet standing there, he seemed to be in harmony with the Great Dao itself.

“I have no desire to make an enemy of your grandson. But he had no desire to spare me. You heard him — he just told you to kill us. With a temperament like his, he will certainly harm me in the future.” Ye Fan stood with the Ten Thousand Things Mother Qi Cauldron above his head and the God-Beating Whip in his hand.

“Do you truly intend to kill my grandson?” The old man asked with the same expressionless tone. A pressure radiated from him, instilling a feeling of dread.

“Hum!”

Suddenly, Ye Fan struck directly. Even facing Xu Tianhong — who surpassed the formidable Azure Flood Dragon King — he had no fear whatsoever.

“Whoosh…”

The God-Beating Whip swung out. Xu Tianhong’s divine sense had been dormant all this time, awakened only when Xu Yuan’s life was in danger.

Yet even if his magical power filled the heavens, this was ultimately only a strand of divine sense. What could it know of the God-Beating Whip’s wondrous qualities? He pressed his hand-seal forward.

“Slap!”

The God-Beating Whip and his divine sense collided head-on in an intensely violent clash, sending the golden ancient pagoda flying.

Tu Fei hurried to shield himself with the Heaven-Swallowing Jar. Xu Yuan let out a miserable wail and was swept away by the energy tide, dropping like a shattered leaf in the distance.

“What kind of sacred treasure is this?!”

The Third Great Bandit Xu Tianhong’s form cracked apart — yet he still gave voice to those words.

“Slap!”

Ye Fan said nothing in reply and continued to swing the God-Beating Whip, shattering the divine sense into a ball of radiance.

“Boom!”

Then he struck again for the third time. The radiance collapsed and vanished utterly into the sky, becoming a scatter of flying ash.

“You actually struck at Xu Tianhong’s divine sense?!” Tu Fei was greatly astonished — he had never imagined Ye Fan would be so bold.

“Strike first and hold the advantage — I saw that his protectiveness toward his grandson was extreme, and feared he might deploy some secret technique.” Ye Fan carefully examined the pagoda, wary of anything unusual inside. “Furthermore — since we’ve already offended their bloodline, it’s best to be thorough. Eliminate everything cleanly and leave him no way to trace it back.”

“Don’t kill me…” Xu Yuan was utterly terrified. He hadn’t even known that his grandfather’s divine sense resided within the pagoda. Seeing him appear unexpectedly — thinking he would escape — yet this was the outcome.

Tu Fei sighed. “Xu Tianhong is truly fearsome. And that was merely a strand of his divine sense. If that were his true body — just thinking about it makes one’s hair stand on end.”

After careful examination, the golden ancient pagoda held nothing more. Ye Fan tossed it to Tu Fei. “This golden pagoda is quite good — you keep it.”

Tu Fei shook his head like a rattle drum. “Who would dare use this thing? If Xu Tianhong finds out, he’d hunt us to the ends of the world.”

Ye Fan chuckled. “Leave it for that dog. I reckon the moment it lays eyes on it, it’ll grab it for itself.”

“Are you really going to kill him?” Tu Fei frowned. He felt that killing Xu Yuan would bring enormous trouble.

“Do I have another choice? If we let him go — you know his temperament. He’d certainly stir up endless trouble to harm me.” Ye Fan said.

“Don’t kill me — let me go! I swear I won’t come looking for your trouble!” Xu Yuan cried out. At this moment he was filled with terror. His life lay entirely in this person’s hands.

Tu Fei thought it over. “How about this — suppress him first but leave him alive. I’m afraid Xu Tianhong will find out sooner or later. When that day comes, there would truly be no way to undo things — going to war with him would give even the great sacred lords headaches.”

“Very well.” Ye Fan gave a nod. It was a pity he had no suitable vessel to seal him in.

He could not open the Separation Fire Divine Furnace — not outside the primordial chaotic force field. Opening it recklessly would let the Golden-Winged Peng Lord, the Yaoguang Sacred Son, and Yao Xi burst straight out. Using the golden ancient pagoda, he was somewhat uneasy — after all, it was the opponent’s weapon.

“How about I suppress him?” Tu Fei collected Xu Yuan inside the Heaven-Swallowing Jar.

“That is—” “Woof!”

The Great Black Dog came running over just in time, saw this scene, and its pair of copper-bell eyes nearly popped out of its head.

It transformed into a bolt of black lightning and lunged ferociously toward Tu Fei.

“What the — this dog’s gone crazy!” Tu Fei shouted. He discovered the Great Black Dog was furious and indignant, ready to fight him to the death.

Ye Fan hurriedly stepped between them, using the God-Beating Whip to cut off the Black Emperor. “What’s gotten into you? What are you going berserk about?”

The Great Black Dog was huffing and puffing hard, glaring with rage. “Where did you get that jar?”

“You greedy dead dog — this is a replica, not the genuine article. What is there to fight over?” Tu Fei snapped.

“I naturally know it’s a replica. But without the genuine article, how would you make a replica?” The Great Black Dog’s emotions were turbulent, its enormous body trembling slightly.

Tu Fei looked at it sideways. “You couldn’t have crawled out of a grave, could you? Who in the Northern Region doesn’t know my grandfather possesses an incomplete version of the Primordial Heaven-Swallowing Jar? Naturally he helped me make this replica.”

“Awooo…” The Great Black Dog let out a wolf’s howl — as indignant as could be, as grief-stricken as could be. It muttered and cursed. “Damn it all — that was the treasure I had my eye on! How did your old grandfather end up stealing it?!”

“What kind of talk is that, dead dog?” Tu Fei was unhappy. “What nonsense. My grandfather acquired the Primordial Heaven-Swallowing Jar hundreds of years ago. What business is it of yours?”

“Awooo… Woof!” The Great Black Dog let out another wolf’s howl, followed by a dog’s bark. Its emotions were extremely agitated. It ran around the mountain peak more than a dozen times in succession without managing to calm down.

“It’s over — this dead dog’s been set off.” Ye Fan understood. The treasure left behind by the fearsome figure the Great Black Dog could never stop thinking about was definitely this Primordial Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar. He briefly explained the situation to Tu Fei, to avoid provoking the Great Black Dog any further.

“How did your grandfather come to get it?” After a full half-hour, the Great Black Dog slowly calmed down, and asked with ferocity.

“He found it.” Tu Fei stated the truth plainly.

“He just found it?!” The Great Black Dog nearly went berserk. “Back then, I risked my life to dig it out, trapped in that fearsome figure’s sacred ground for many years — and your grandfather just casually picked it up? Are you trying to anger me to death?!”

“Everyone in the Northern Region knows this. My grandfather truly was very fortunate — he found a jar lying beside a dried-up ancient riverbed, and it turned out to be the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar that shook the ancient era.”

“Woof, woof, woof…” The Great Black Dog truly couldn’t bear it. It began sprinting around the mountain peak madly again, barking nonstop.

The Black Emperor could not withstand this kind of shock. It had risked its life, yet hadn’t even gotten eyes on the demon jar. Meanwhile someone else had picked it up without any effort.

“Where did your grandfather find it?” the Great Black Dog asked with desperate reluctance.

“Last time you came looking for me, didn’t you cause an uproar at the Yunduan Mountain Range? In former years, my grandfather found it beside a riverbed just outside those mountains.”

The Great Black Dog truly was about to vomit blood. Not only was its heart wounded — its liver, lungs, and every other organ ached. Its entire body ached. It threw its head back and howled to the sky in fury: “There’s just no justice in the world! What is this Emperor supposed to do with all this?!”

In the ancient era, the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar had awed the world. Accounts about it were numerous.

One recorded account held that a great emperor of the era before the ancient wasteland, with his lifespan nearly exhausted and death approaching, used his own primordial spirit as the fire, his peerless flesh and blood as the clay, and the endless divine materials spoken of in the legends of the Eastern Wasteland, and burned himself into a pottery jar — leaving behind an extreme Dao weapon for his descendants.

Others said this great emperor had cultivated an indestructible Heavenly Art — and within his dying elderly body had given rise to a divine embryo. Breaking apart only to rebuild anew, he refined his old body into the extreme Dao weapon: the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar.

“Whether it was his old body or his true body — it was, in the end, his own flesh. This was a fearsome figure indeed — he refined himself!” the Great Black Dog marveled.

This also illustrated from another angle just how precious sacred objects like Undying Phoenixblood Crimson Gold and Ten Thousand Things Mother Qi truly were — rare even across a thousand generations. Even a great emperor might not necessarily obtain them. Otherwise, who would refine their own body into an extreme Dao sacred weapon?

The Great Black Dog said: “You’re saying your grandfather — that old codger — only picked up the demon jar hundreds of years ago, without getting the jar’s lid?”

“Dead dog, watch how you talk.” Tu Fei glared at it.

“Fine, this Emperor misspoke. Has that jar’s lid not appeared in the world?” the Great Black Dog asked anxiously.

Tu Fei answered: “No. In today’s world, there is only the demon jar — the lid has never been seen. My grandfather has searched widely from many angles, yet found nothing.”

“The jar’s lid is the most essential part. According to legend, it was forged from the great emperor’s skull, supplemented with celestial materials, and bears the imprint of his primordial spirit. The word ‘Demon’ in ‘Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar’ — every manifestation of it lies in that lid. It is the most terrifying foundational component.”

The Great Black Dog finally no longer felt so utterly despairing. It swore it would find the lid — and then it glared fiercely at Tu Fei. “Tell your grandfather to be careful. This Emperor will come looking for him one day!”

“Damn it…” Tu Fei cursed.

At last, after the Great Black Dog had completely calmed down, it finally noticed the golden ancient pagoda not far away — exactly as Ye Fan had expected.

It pounced on it in an instant, snatching it into its paws and pressing it down beneath its great claws. “This golden pagoda is passable — barely usable by this Emperor for a period of time.”

“That is the Third Great Bandit Xu Tianhong’s treasure. We just suppressed his grandson. Do you dare use it?” Ye Fan made the situation clear.

“Xu Tianhong — which one is that? Never heard of him.” The Great Black Dog was utterly unconcerned.

“He ranks above the Azure Flood Dragon King. You weigh that for yourself.” Tu Fei said.

“Damn it…” The Great Black Dog cursed, but still did not let go of it. “This Emperor will put it away for now and deal with it later!” It was of the mindset that one must always seize any good thing — never to be let go of.

Ye Fan and his companions did not linger long in Anzhou. Following what Xu Yuan had told them, they arrived in Kunzhou and began sweeping for source stones furiously.

Xu Yuan had no small ambitions — secretly cultivating power, unknown even to his grandfather and elder brother, laying groundwork for the future. Unfortunately, encountering the two men and one dog, all his efforts came to nothing.

Over the past half-month, Ye Fan had plundered all the outlaws of Kunzhou, seizing twenty-eight thousand jin of source stones — more than expected.

Kunzhou was a beautiful place. Mountains and hills everywhere were covered in evergreen species — green pines, celestial maples, purple bamboo, frost-resistant vines, and more.

Even in this deep autumn, the land was teeming with vitality. Celestial maples swayed, their leaves crystalline — like jade trees of emerald, glinting green radiance as far as the eye could see.

Moreover, some of the maple trees bore snow-white blossoms. When the gentle wind passed through, petals danced and swirled in the air, their fragrance permeating the senses.

Ahead, spiritual springs flowed in threads and streams, gurgling along through the celestial maple forest.

“Oh — there’s someone ahead. A girl of exceptional beauty!” Tu Fei nearly let out a wolf’s howl. “So captivating. A matchless beauty. Have you noticed? She has an especially pure quality — like a crystal heart, like a celestial bloom on a snow mountain.”

The girl that could catch Tu Fei’s eye and draw forth such exclamations was naturally no ordinary person. Making it his highest life goal to steal a sacred maiden as his wife — his standards were extraordinary.

Within the celestial maple forest — where green radiance glinted like green agate, jade-green and lush, and snow-white petals were drifting down — a young woman in blue robes stood untouched by the dust of the world. She carried an otherworldly beauty, like a pristine white lotus beaded with dew, or a fresh snow lotus blooming on a snow mountain.

Each maple tree was like green agate — jade-green and dripping — and snow-white petals floated and fell, dancing around the young woman, crystalline and bright, their fragrance rich and sweet. They set her off like a sprite of the natural world, graceful and transcendent.

“It’s her…” Ye Fan was startled.