“Clang!”

That man standing ten feet tall, grand and magnificent in bearing, possessed strength enough to topple mountains. His black hair was disheveled, his eyes intimidating. He swung his crescent halberd, tearing apart heaven and earth with divine valor beyond measure!

Ye Fan resisted with his golden fist, striking the crescent halberd so that it trembled incessantly, the sound piercing gold and splitting stone, reverberating across the sky below the heavens.

“BOOM!”

That purple-haired man descended like a heavenly deity of a demon clan. His skin was lustrous as white jade, his eyes as terrifying as an abyss, from which purple brilliance would occasionally flow.

He controlled the nine-level ancient pagoda, covering Ye Fan beneath it and continuously driving it forward. The copper pagoda, branded with innate Dao markings, descended again and again — several times nearly succeeding in drawing Ye Fan inside.

“Thud!”

A bottomless pit appeared in the earth as the ancient pagoda pressed down, piercing through the ground and drawing endless earth and stone inside.

“Clang, clang!”

Ye Fan’s heart grew cold. He resisted with everything he had, yet had already been drawn inside the pagoda’s first level. His golden great hands slashed out in continuous strokes.

“Thud!”

He transformed his left hand into a golden heavenly stele and his right hand into a golden great millstone, striking them out simultaneously, and at last sent this weapon flying outward.

He himself felt lingering dread — yet those watching were more stunned than he was. To fight a heavy weapon interwoven with the patterns of heaven and earth with bare hands — how many people would dare attempt that?

“The Sacred Physique is too powerful. His physical body is comparable to a precious weapon — innately standing in an undefeatable position. How many people among his peers could possibly injure him?”

“The only way to deal with him is to suppress him with an overwhelming tide of magical power and then slowly refine him. Otherwise it is very easy to come out on the losing end!”

Numerous cultivators had come from all around and were all whispering in discussion. The sounds of this great battle in the deep of night traveled for dozens of miles — anyone in Yan City could not have missed it.

At this moment, what Ye Fan was most wary of was the woman wielding the Ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar imitation. Not only did she possess the jar itself — she also held its lid, and both had been interwoven with Dao and principle.

According to legend, the most terrifying part of the Ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar was its lid. The ruthless man had refined it from the skull of his own shed Great Emperor body, granting it unimaginable supreme power.

Even as an imitation, it was presumably more terrifying than the jar body itself. Ye Fan had been guarding against it all along. Yet this woman of comely appearance had not used it — in itself a form of intangible deterrence.

The origins of these three people were mysterious beyond measure. Each one was a formidable enemy, all comparable to the various Holy Sons. Yet none of them had ever been heard of before — which truly shook him.

“Shick!”

Suddenly, a beam of golden radiance shot from Ye Fan’s brow. That pool of golden light like a small sun projected outward a golden small cauldron formed from condensed divine consciousness.

His divine sense — how powerful it was — was known to all in the young generation. When that small pool of golden light materialized a three-legged small cauldron, there was no one who did not change expression.

Even the three powerful enemies all showed astonishment on their faces, brilliant light flashing from their brows as precious treasures materialized, blocking in front of them.

“Hmph!”

The clear-featured woman gave a cold snort and suddenly brought out the lid of the Ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar in a reverse grip, pressing it toward the golden small cauldron.

Ye Fan felt a sharp pain at his brow; the golden small cauldron was actually on the verge of being drawn inside by the demonic lid. Upon it was a ghost-face marking that seemed to both smile and weep — uncanny beyond measure.

“Heh heh… ha ha…”

Terrifying laughter rang out, utterly chilling and ghastly ahead, as though the number-one ruthless man of all heaven and earth stood at the primordial frontier and laughed coldly, that laughter transmitted across space and time.

Then followed laughter even more wildly arrogant — as though capable of trampling all the immortal spirits of every heaven underfoot. It was the most supremely self-confident demonic sound in all of creation.

Even someone as powerful as Ye Fan felt his hair stand on end. This was merely an imitation — and even so, it had faithfully reproduced such demonic laughter?

Was this the voice of that supreme ruthless one? Fortunately it was merely an imitation; only the sound was captured, and none of the world-obliterating divine power. Otherwise it would have been a catastrophe beyond reckoning, and Yan City would not have survived!

Even so, Ye Fan’s golden small cauldron had nearly been drawn inside and was rapidly dimming. He let out a light shout, and from his brow the golden radiance blazed greatly.

The golden small cauldron transformed into a stream of flowing light surging upward, sweeping toward the three combatants. They hurried to defend themselves, terrified of it touching them — everyone knew this was one of Ye Fan’s killing trump cards.

“Thud!”

At the same moment, the Ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar shuddered. The woman flipped her hand and aimed it at Ye Fan, shooting out a mysterious beam of light that drove straight forward.

This was a beam of black light that devoured all things. Beyond that, Great Dao markings descended in fine strands, gossamer-like, like a curtain of sky, shredding and killing everything in its path.

“Ahhhh…”

Ye Fan was unharmed, but in the distance people were falling with agonized cries. A large crowd was affected, blood seeping from their brows. The demonic lid’s power was overwhelming.

Moreover, at this very moment, the ghost-face marking on the Ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar’s lid appeared to come alive — both weeping and laughing. Ye Fan’s heart pounded violently.

Chaos Seed Blue Lotus!

He manifested his phenomenon, seeking to suppress all three people simultaneously — though the primary target was still the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar. This artifact was too sinister; it was unclear what other capabilities it had yet to display.

He had no desire to respond to them one move at a time. Taking the initiative, he wanted to capture and kill all three together. Chaotic mist swirled; the golden small cauldron returned to his brow.

Ye Fan moved; blue lotus bloomed in accompaniment, rooted in the void like a great Dao scripture. Three leaves swayed gently; all living things revived; heaven and earth seemed to return to their original state.

“Hum!”

Ye Fan’s two hands swayed. Between his golden palms, Yin and Yang Dao diagrams appeared — the left hand bearing the Yin diagram, the right hand the Yang diagram — like the sun and moon moving together.

The aura of the primordial opening of heaven and earth permeated the air. Ye Fan’s golden great hands transformed into the Yin-Yang diagram, seeking to cover all three people beneath them.

Clearly they knew how dangerous this was. Not daring to enter the range of the phenomenon, all three immediately retreated decisively.

“Clang!”

The grand and imposing man wielding the crescent halberd was sent flying in one blow, the great halberd in his hand trembling violently without end.

If it had been any other weapon, it would certainly have been reduced to powder — absolutely incapable of withstanding a single blow from the Yin-Yang diagram!

“BOOM!”

The nine-level ancient pagoda, heavy as a mountain, was sent flying by the Yang diagram in Ye Fan’s right hand, transforming into a stream of flowing light that streaked across the sky like a comet, disappearing into the far reaches of heaven and earth.

Only the Ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar was terrifying. Even as a faint imitation, it displayed unforeseen power, withstanding the Yin diagram’s blow, its surface flowing with ten thousand streams of black light.

“The Sacred Physique is so powerful — without even using a weapon, he can resist three great enemies at once…” All observers felt chilled to the bone.

“These three are apex young combatants of the young generation — where have they come from?” someone wondered aloud.

Ye Fan stood there, his complexion very calm, facing off against the three. Another exchange and he would capture and kill them!

Doubt swirled in his heart. These three jumping out had disrupted his speculation. Were they people the other party had sent to probe? But how could young powerful combatants capable of contending with him ever follow orders while remaining completely unknown?

What exactly were their origins? They were absolutely capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Holy Son-level figures. Whether in the Central Continent or the Eastern Wastelands, such people in the young generation were exceedingly rare.

Possessing an imitation of the Ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar — including the intact lid — was something a Sacred Lord-level figure could produce and replicate, though it presented considerable difficulty.

This was somewhat irregular. His heart was shaken. Could the other party have obtained the ruthless man’s inheritance? That was possible.

Ye Fan let out a light shout. In the night sky his golden physical body flickered, one hand pressing the void into collapse, the blue lotus protecting his body as he unleashed the Yin diagram and Yang diagram, seeking to capture all three.

“Whoosh”… “Whoosh”…

The grand man wielding the crescent halberd and the purple-haired man resembling a demon clan deity both retreated. Only the woman swung the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar and struck toward him.

The ghost-face wept and laughed simultaneously; the depths of its two eyes projected black radiance, sending waves of chill through Ye Fan’s body. He let out a powerful surge, blood energy soaring to the heavens, dissolving it.

“If that’s all you have, surrender your life!” Ye Fan charged forward.

“Brother Ye, your body… heh heh…” The woman gave a light laugh.

Ye Fan’s heart turned cold. Was the other party here to probe his injuries? Thinking carefully over everything just now, there were threads to follow. What kind of person was this fearsome, harboring suspicions about him?

He was confident he had no openings, that he had been guarding against this all along and had performed with perfect precision. He had even simulated the aura of Great Dao fracture-lines, allowing a trace to flow out naturally at an unguarded moment.

“Don’t bother worrying about me — I won’t die so easily!” Ye Fan raised his hand to strike, seeking to capture and kill his opponent.

“Whoosh!”

But the three figures suddenly became faint and insubstantial, stepping into the void and attempting to cross through it. Ye Fan’s expression changed. He swung his fist and shook the heavens, while simultaneously his eyes shot divine radiance, using the Primordial Heavenly Divine Awareness to pierce through their true and false.

“This is a divine technique of carving Dao markings directly into the body to traverse the void — a hundred miles without a trace, impossible to pursue. It had already disappeared from this world long ago. Who would have thought it would reappear in this world.” An elder-generation figure exclaimed.

“Think yourself as cunning as you like — I doubt you know that I have cultivated the Divine Eye…” Ye Fan murmured inwardly.

He could not settle himself. This opponent was very difficult to deal with — a terrifying enemy!

The three of them were not true bodies at all. They were three divine figures summoned from within a Dao palace — of the same origin, indistinguishable from one another.

Yet after thinking it through carefully, he furrowed his brow. This person was extremely crafty and cautious. None of the three divine figures had left behind a single distinguishing mark — there was no way to make a judgment.

“What a powerful individual. Even the three divine figures they spawned could contend with Holy Sons, and moreover the spawned divine figures could be male or female, completely indistinguishable from flesh-and-blood bodies. Without the Divine Eye, it would be impossible to see through.”

To find such a person among all under heaven would be like searching for a needle in the ocean. Ye Fan sank into contemplation, carefully turning things over in his mind and reflecting on various past events.

He could not work from life-force markings. He could only seek threads from the details. He very much wanted to identify this person — otherwise he could not rest easy.

“Similar… one part similar!”

He stood there for a long while, then suddenly his eyes lit up. For one brief instant, when the imposing man had swung his crescent halberd and torn apart heaven and earth, that peerless, supreme bearing had a single thread of resemblance to a scene he had witnessed before. This was due to his powerful divine sense, which had firmly branded that scene of old into his memory.

When he had been in the Northern Region, not long after emerging from the Primal Restricted Zone, there had been two terrifying presences covered in long fur all over their bodies — suspected to be primordial creatures — wielding great swords, splitting the heavens and breaking the earth, supremely dominant over all in the eight wastelands and six realms!

At that time, everyone speculated they were not actually primordial creatures, but rather Old Saber Hilt. Subsequent suspicious details also pointed in that direction — Old Saber Hilt had vanished without a trace, and all manner of clues pointed to him.

Yet Ye Fan felt a chill run through him. His thoughts had landed on the Holy Son of Shimmering Light — though from that one thread of similarity the probability did not even reach one ten-thousandth.

“Back then, those two beings had even cleaved at the Holy Son of Shimmering Light’s elders — killing without restraint, striking ten people dead within ten paces…”

Thinking of the Holy Son of Shimmering Light as he walked through the mortal world like a deity — untainted by the worldly dust, forever enveloped in a divine halo — Ye Fan felt a rush of unease.

“Though there’s only the slimmest possibility, I must still be on guard…” Ye Fan’s heart pounded.

He brought all of it to bear on the Holy Son of Shimmering Light, murmuring inwardly: “Did he obtain the ruthless man’s inheritance? He likewise entered the ruthless man’s sacred ground, suffered severe injuries and nearly died — could he also have been immersed ‘in the pitch-black darkness’?”

Ye Fan furrowed his brow. Before this, he had never harbored the slightest suspicion toward the Holy Son of Shimmering Light — yet now he had no choice but to be on guard. This person had been inexplicably drawn into the picture.

“Yet there is another who is far more likely!”

Ye Fan thought of Hua Yunfei. Back in the fire domain, if he had not overheard a conversation between him and an old man, he would never have been able to imagine it was Hua Yunfei who had wanted to kill Ji Ziyue.

He would never forget those words. At the time, Hua Yunfei had spoken to himself: the Sacred Physique, his body contains wondrous and extraordinary power — if he knew, that would be better than taking his original source.

Ye Fan had been outside the situation, able to overhear everything and thus see through the fog. No one in the world would be able to imagine that Hua Yunfei — ethereal as a transcendent immortal — was quite possibly the heir to the ruthless man’s inheritance!

Hua Yunfei had the reputation of a transcended immortal: refined, elegant, and noble. He was also very low-key, never stirring up any trouble. It was almost as though he wore a layer of sacred robes without a single flaw — the world would never suspect him!

“Whether or not he obtained the ruthless man’s inheritance, he is certainly plotting against me. He wanted to take Ji Ziyue’s original source — and mine as well…”

When old man Li Ruoyu had fought the half-step Mighty Being, he had been surprised, noting a faint familiarity in that aura. Li Ruoyu lived year-round in seclusion at Clumsy Peak, with Star Peak as a neighbor — which only strengthened Ye Fan’s conviction.

“What is the matter with the Holy Son of Shimmering Light? Bewildering and uncertain — there is still a slim possibility it could be him…”

But the other party’s primary goal tonight had been to probe whether the Sacred Physique’s injuries were truly as severe as claimed. Their intentions ran deep. Whether or not he had been drawn into this, Ye Fan still needed to guard against him.

“I am firmly convinced that Hua Yunfei wants to kill me!” Ye Fan revealed killing intent. Based solely on what he had witnessed in the fire domain, it was already sufficient to foretell that he and Hua Yunfei could not coexist.

The following day, Hua Yunfei and Li Xiaoman entered Yan City together. Ye Fan went to meet them — and struck directly, unwilling to give the other party time to carefully arrange things.

Otherwise, given the other party’s scheming mind, they would certainly have made elaborate plans after entering Yan City. More likely than not they would have a formidable reserve move prepared to eliminate him. Rather than allow that, Ye Fan decided to strike first before giving them any opportunity.

Moreover, this had been the very trap he had set for Hua Yunfei from the start. The sooner it was resolved, the sooner he could rest easy!

“Brother Ye, why are you doing this?” Hua Yunfei was engulfed by a vast golden blood energy and his expression changed drastically.

“Ye Fan, what are you doing? Why repay kindness with enmity?” Li Xiaoman beside him cried out in alarm.

Ye Fan said nothing. He had come only to kill, unwilling to be distracted. Only by obliterating this person with thunderous might could he be at ease.

Immortal King Descending upon the Nine Heavens, Chaos Seed Blue Lotus, and other phenomena manifested simultaneously, covering toward Hua Yunfei. So long as he could confine him within the phenomenon, everything else would be easily handled.

The nine levels of heaven materialized; an Immortal King sat in supreme dominance above, uniquely sovereign. The Yin-Yang diagram sealed the heavens; this entire domain became like a land of immortals. Ye Fan’s golden light soared to the heavens from every surface of his body — as powerful as a sacred spirit.

“BOOM!”

Hua Yunfei naturally could not sit back and wait for death. A star burst from his brow, flowing with endless immortal light that submerged him entirely.

“Why is the Sacred Physique fighting Hua Yunfei from the Supreme Mystery Sect?” All cultivators were astonished and utterly at a loss.

“Heavens, that is Star Peak’s most precious treasure — legend has it that it was refined from an actual star!” Some elder-generation figures were stunned.

“Ye Fan, what is this? Senior Brother Hua gave you the Nine-Aperture玲珑 Elixir to save your life, and yet you repay his kindness with enmity?” Li Xiaoman’s expression changed.

“He…” Ye Fan gave a contemptuous laugh, paying no attention whatsoever. He stepped forward with great strides — still with thunderous might, intent on killing Hua Yunfei. Like an ancient deity walking forward, making heaven and earth tremble.