The Extraordinary Masters Mansion, though spanning less than a thousand li in all directions, was magnificent and spiritually sublime, gathering ancestral qi from all ten directions and manifesting a pure land in the human world — one of the hidden sanctuaries of the Central Continent.

Ye Fan kept watch outside for several days. He frequently saw people entering and leaving, yet had not once spotted the Yin-Yang Holy Maiden nor Yan Yunluan. The scroll in his hand bore the faces of eleven people in total.

These years, the powerful figures among them hailed from the Central Continent, the Southern Ridge, and the Western Desert alike — all had laid hands on Li Heishui, humiliating him to the utmost extreme, shattering his chest bones and crushing both his legs.

Ye Fan waited three full days before finally spotting one of his targets emerge — matching perfectly with one of the men on the scroll. Even so, he made no rash move, for fear of alerting the others.

On the fourth day, Pang Bo sent him word: the opportunity was close at hand. The disciples of the mansion were about to undertake what they called a trial excursion, and barring anything unexpected, the Yin-Yang Holy Maiden, Yan Yunluan, and the others would be among the group.

“Good. I’ll seize this chance to sweep them all up in one net. For so humiliating Li Heishui, I’ll settle the score with every last one of them.” With his bearing serene and otherworldly, Ye Fan shook out his wide sleeves and drifted away.

Five days later, a group walked out from the Extraordinary Masters Mansion. The one at their head was none other than Yan Yunluan — a prodigious talent within the mansion, formidably powerful, though the last time they met he had been cut down in sorry defeat, nearly killed by Ye Fan’s Heavenly Tribulation.

“The beast we’re to slay is an old serpent that has cultivated for nine hundred years. Though it has yet to take human form, it already possesses the strength of the first heaven of the Immortal Platform. This will be no easy task.”

“With so many of us, if we lay down innate formation patterns, I refuse to believe we can’t handle it.”

More than five thousand li away, in a valley, an old serpent had appeared. The area was thick with miasma and littered with beast bones — and no small number of human bones as well. The exotic creature that had taken root there had cultivated for nine hundred years and finally achieved a certain level of Daoist attainment.

It had walked the path of a beast king and had made no attempt to take human form. In recent times it had been causing havoc throughout the region, and the Extraordinary Masters Mansion had dispatched these disciples to eliminate it.

The group departed the Extraordinary Masters Mansion by more than forty li. Ahead lay an expanse of open terrain — a flat plain with scattered rocks, sparse vegetation, and a somewhat desolate atmosphere.

“This is Ye Zhetian’s territory. Who would have guessed he was actually Ye Fan? What a pity we missed our chance back then and didn’t encircle and kill him sooner.”

“I predict he won’t live long. He’s offended Wang Teng, the heaven-favored one — he won’t come to a good end.”

“Not being able to kill him with our own hands is truly a shame. Humiliating Li Heishui and the others still hasn’t gotten rid of the anger in my heart.”

As this group passed through the territory, they spoke quietly among themselves, all of them hostile toward Ye Fan and holding no goodwill for him whatsoever — which was precisely why they had gathered together.

Suddenly, a silhouette dropped from the sky. There was no terrifying fluctuation, no overwhelming aura, yet the presence made one’s heart tremble. It blocked the path ahead of them all.

A youth of sixteen or seventeen, dressed in purple robes and standing with his hands clasped behind his back, cut off every one of their paths forward. At the corner of his mouth rested a faint, cold smile.

“Who are you? What do you want?” A young man stepped forward and demanded in a deep voice.

“To kill every single one of you.” Ye Fan enunciated each word in turn, speaking those six words aloud.

Some of them burst out laughing immediately. They had never before heard of anyone daring to stand alone against this many elites — each of them a chosen heir from one of the Five Great Domains’ great sects.

“Did you swallow an immortal’s gallbladder, or take the wrong medicine? How can you be so shamelessly boastful? Aren’t you afraid the wind will blow your tongue askew?”

“You don’t know your own worth. Did you check your almanac before leaving home today, or take the wrong direction? Do you dare try to ambush and kill even us?”

Many of them paid him no mind whatsoever. Among the current generation, those who dared to act so arrogantly could be counted on one hand, and the person before them was only sixteen or seventeen — far too young.

“He is Ye Fan!” Yan Yunluan suddenly said.

“That’s right — he’s that prodigy from the Eastern Wastelands!” The Yin-Yang Holy Maiden’s expression also turned grave.

The moment those words were spoken, the scene fell completely silent. Every single person who had been talking snapped their mouths shut. The killing star from the Eastern Wastelands had arrived — and the rightful target had come to block their path.

Not long ago, they had received considerable benefits from the Yin-Yang Holy Maiden. At her instigation, they had ground Li Heishui’s bones to powder in multiple places and humiliated him viciously — yet none of them had felt truly at ease about it.

Ye Fan let out a cold laugh. Sacred blood flowed through his hundred meridians, and from the crown of his head, a thick column of golden blood energy shot skyward, sweeping across everyone present.

“I don’t understand. Some of you don’t even know me. So why did you lay hands on Li Heishui?” he asked in a low, steady voice.

“Ye Fan, you have made enemies of all under heaven. We couldn’t stand by and watch. We attacked him — and what can you do about it?” A head-shaven monk with a few sword scars across his face and a golden hoop binding his hair stepped forward, his expression cold and indifferent.

“You, a wild vagrant monk, without a shred of a monk’s compassion — wounding the innocent. In a moment, I’ll send you to prostrate yourself before the Buddha and repent.” Ye Fan stepped forward.

“It is I, the Great Buddhist, who will send you to your next life!” The scars on the bitter monk’s face twitched slightly, giving him a ferocious look.

“One look at you and I can tell you’re a wild monk. Could it be you were expelled from some ancient temple in the Western Desert?” Ye Fan said with a laugh.

“You seek death! I, the Great Buddhist, will send you to see the Bodhisattva of the Earth Treasure in hell!” The bitter monk’s hair flew loose as he bellowed — clearly struck at a raw nerve.

With such a forceful figure stepping forward, the others became less fearful as well. All of them prepared for battle, separately bringing forth their sacred artifacts as protection.

Yan Yunluan was the leader among them and naturally stood at the foremost. The last time they crossed paths, he had attempted to use his tribulation crossing to strike Ye Fan down, but instead had been nearly destroyed by the lightning — failing not only to break through, but nearly crippling himself entirely.

He had spent close to half a year recovering before attempting a breakthrough again, demonstrating a constitution incomparable to ordinary people and a cultivation talent bordering on the monstrous.

“Ye Zhetian — do you dare fight me openly and fairly today?”

“You’re not worth it.” Ye Fan glanced at him, a three-word verdict that caused Yan Yunluan’s expression to shift instantly. He had never been looked down upon like this before.

“Everyone — what are we waiting for? This opportunity is rare. Join forces and kill him, and seize the Myriad Transformations Mother Qi Root!” The Yin-Yang Sect’s holy maiden sent a sound transmission. Her hair fell like clouds, her appearance was one of blooming flowers and a bright moon, yet she let out cold laugh after cold laugh.

Standing at this point, face to face with no retreat, it was impossible for her to be without fear — yet she had no other choice. The only option was to rally everyone and strike together. Otherwise, she would certainly die.

“I killed the previous holy son and holy maiden of your Yin-Yang Sect, yet this stand-in holy maiden still hasn’t learned her lesson. Today, since all of this started because of you, I’ll send your sect’s old patriarch another great gift by removing your head.”

“Everyone, attack together — kill him!” Another person shouted. At this point, Ye Fan’s name had shaken an entire region. Aside from a handful of prodigious figures, no one among the younger generation would dare to fight him alone.

“No need to be afraid! Cut off his head. What does a sacred body amount to? There are so many of us — it’s more than enough to kill him!” A white-robed refined scholar stepped forward, his eyes cunning and vicious. He made the first move, summoning a slab of five-colored stone and hurling it at Ye Fan.

They had no other choice — only by joining forces could they avoid near-certain death if they fought alone.

“Hmph!”

Ye Fan let out a cold snort, leaving behind an afterimage in place. A golden fist smashed every single piece of the five-colored stone to powder. In the blink of an eye, he was right before the scholar.

“Not good — fall back fast!”

The others cried out and each launched their sacred artifacts at Ye Fan to rescue the white-robed scholar from his desperate situation — yet it was already too late.

Ye Fan had deliberately chosen to make an example of this man. With the Movement Secret unmatched beneath heaven, he arrived in an instant. His golden fist shattered through the barrier of divine power as easily as shattering glass.

“Spit!”

With one punch, Ye Fan drove through the white-robed scholar’s chest. A light tremor — and the body split apart, collapsing in every direction. Yet Ye Fan’s purple robes remained unsoiled by a single drop of blood as he stood firm, composed as ever.

A large net blazed red as flame clouds, burning fiercely, descending from above toward Ye Fan.

A five-colored feather fan gave a light wave, and mountains collapsed and seas roared, five-colored divine light swallowing heaven and earth.

A great bell rang with full force — space shattered, bell waves surging in ten thousand layers, crashing forward.

The space in this area was brought nearly to a boil. Everyone struck at once, assaulting Ye Fan together, unwilling to give him even a single opening — for if they did, everyone present would die.

Yet the battle unfolded unfavorably for them. Ye Fan moved as if walking into an empty wilderness, striking head-on against their sacred artifacts.

“Crack!”

The vast red net — like a sky full of twinkling stars — flashed and split apart in the void.

“Clang!”

The silver great bell collided with the golden fist. Bell waves surged in ten thousand directions, yet ultimately it was the bell itself that cracked into more than a dozen pieces and tumbled from the sky.

“Ahhh…”

Finally, yet another person let out a cry of agony, slapped into a paste of flesh and blood by Ye Fan.

“What’s happening over there? Is that Ye Zhetian? He’s ambushing Yan Yunluan and the Yin-Yang Holy Maiden!”

In the distant sky, several silhouettes appeared, all of them revealing expressions of shock. This place was only a little over forty li from the Extraordinary Masters Mansion, and people passing through occasionally had of course witnessed the battle unfolding here.

“The prodigy from the Eastern Wastelands has come!”

Ever since Ye Fan’s identity had been exposed, everyone had been speculating about when he would appear again. No one had imagined the day would come this quickly.

“The young powerhouses of the Five Great Domains have nearly all entered the Extraordinary Masters Mansion — he alone never came. Now he has finally shown himself again. Let us see who is truly the stronger.”

In the blink of an eye, dozens of silhouettes appeared in the distant sky, all watching the battle.

“Smack!”

Ye Fan’s great golden palm swept down and killed another powerful cultivator. At this, fear rose in the hearts of every person encircling him, and many began to contemplate fleeing.

At last, one person could no longer endure this torment and fled toward the distant sky. Where there was a first, a second and third followed.

“Who dares run?”

Ye Fan raised the Ten Thousand Calamities Bow, drew the string back — taut as a full moon — his power surging to its peak, reaching the domain of the eighth forbidden.

A golden rainbow shot forth, piercing several li through the air and catching up with its target. With a dull thud, a spray of blood burst outward, and that person was reduced to a cloud of blood mist on the spot.

Then the second arrow flew — another streak of golden light rose and caught another fleeing figure. Again came a light crack, flesh and bone exploding apart. That person died a violent death.

Ye Fan loosed three arrows in succession, and the three who had fled first were all shot down. Their bodies shattered in the void — one could only imagine the terrifying force behind each arrow!

“One arrow to kill a holy son!”

In the distant sky, everyone was utterly shaken. Such combat power filled people with dread. Aside from that handful of individuals, who among the younger generation could stand against him?

“Don’t run! Fight him together — this place is very close to the Extraordinary Masters Mansion. The Northern Emperor will receive word soon and will come kill him personally!” The Yin-Yang Holy Maiden cried out. If they scattered now, not a single one of them would survive.

“I’ll see you off first!” Ye Fan’s lips curved into a cold smile. He bent the bow and nocked an arrow, taking aim at this stand-in holy maiden — and at once, her beautiful face turned ashen.

“Whoosh!”

The arrow flew forth, swift and lethal as a golden serpent. With a dull thud, a flower of blood bloomed at the center of the Yin-Yang Holy Maiden’s forehead as the arrow drove straight through. Her beautiful face was spattered with specks of crimson, the light in her eyes scattered and extinguished. She died on the spot, sinking slowly to the ground.

“Please don’t kill us — spare our lives!”

“This has nothing to do with us. We were merely invited along and never struck a single blow.”

Aside from Yan Yunluan and the bitter monk, everyone else begged for mercy. Terror overtook them. No one was unafraid of death — especially when facing someone like Ye Fan.