Mountains toppled. Rocks pierced through clouds. The earth sank and subsided. Everywhere was devastated — scorched earth, not a blade of grass, utterly burned out, all life extinguished — nothing remained.
Li Xiaoman was dressed in white robes from head to toe. She approached from a distance, skirts billowing, black hair flying, her gaze clear. She descended through the air. Compared to before, she had not changed greatly.
Ye Fan said nothing — only watched in stillness. Whether to attack or retreat, whether peace or enmity — all depended on her next choice.
Li Xiaoman drew near, halting in the void. She said nothing — yet a trace of coldness in her eyes made the atmosphere in the arena subtly strange.
Though Hua Yunfei had suffered grave injuries, he remained utterly composed and steady. Speaking for his own conduct — using a woman to eliminate a great enemy was, in some respects, difficult to justify.
Ye Fan’s heart tensed. He thought of this man’s scheming nature. He had certainly learned of the relationship between Li Xiaoman and himself. This was meant to disturb his heart, break through his calm, dissolve his Dao.
Former lovers turned into mortal enemies, their lives opposed — it would be difficult for any person to face this with equanimity. This must be Hua Yunfei’s psychological warfare — deliberately so — otherwise how could he not have known that the Sacred Physique’s blood aura was abundant and its divine power difficult to exhaust?
“Junior Sister Xiaoman, if you wish to bring the Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art to completion, you must utterly sever the past, clarify your heart, transcend your self — only then can you bear witness to the Dao.” Hua Yunfei’s voice was tranquil.
Among the mountain ranges, the aftermath of the battle had turned everything to barren wasteland — not a blade of life growing. Not even a trace of wind. Everything was still. A silence like death.
Clang!
A single light ring broke through the desolate stillness, carrying extraordinarily far. A lotus battle armor appeared upon Li Xiaoman’s body, shimmering with metallic light, overflowing with five-colored divine radiance.
Clang, clang…
The sounds rang on. The lotus battle armor chimed softly — clear and resonant — five-colored metallic light flowing. Li Xiaoman was graceful and upright. The divine armor covered her body. In her hand she gripped a silver phoenix halberd.
She slowly raised the phoenix halberd. Silver light flowed — like a streak of moonlight descending. A phoenix cry rang out — clear and distant and beautiful. The silver phoenix halberd shimmered with an icy and cold energy.
With the five-colored divine armor covering her body, Li Xiaoman possessed a quality of transcendence. Even her skin had become crystalline and sacred. Gripping the battle halberd, she pointed it at Ye Fan from afar. A thread of killing intent emanated.
“I had not thought that in the end you would still level your halberd at me.” Ye Fan looked at her, fixing his gaze upon this familiar yet unfamiliar and beautiful woman.
Both coming from the far end of the starry sky — once there had been a time of love between them. In the end it had come to this life-or-death opposition. However it had happened, he had never anticipated this day would come.
Li Xiaoman said not a word — only stepped forward one step at a time. The silver phoenix halberd pointed at Ye Fan’s chest. Killing intent filled the field.
Ye Fan understood. Everything between the two of them had long since become the past. He had thought that even if they met again it would be as calm as standing water — yet he had not expected it to come to this life-or-death confrontation. There was something inexplicably incomprehensible about it — it seemed to defy all reason.
“Are you truly this heartless — raising your hand against me?” Ye Fan looked at her with calm eyes.
A moment of silence.
Clang.
Li Xiaoman lowered the phoenix halberd. She opened her mouth plainly: “You should go.”
“Why should I go? Hua Yunfei is still not eliminated.”
“Then you wish to stay and battle me?” Li Xiaoman’s voice was even, yet carried a coldness.
“As though I were afraid of either of you!” Ye Fan stood on the black battle chariot, facing the two before him.
“You are forcing me to strike.” The lotus battle armor on Li Xiaoman’s body shimmered. Wave after wave of rippling light radiated outward. The silver battle halberd in her hand grew ever more resplendent.
Ye Fan laughed — though with a trace of loneliness. After all, both had come from beneath the same starry sky, and there had been a shared past between them. But in the end they faced each other like this. He said: “Both of you come at me together!”
“Hold that black dragon chariot in place.” Li Xiaoman spoke to Hua Yunfei. She had some wariness toward the Sovereign Divine Weapon — yet did not seem overly concerned, for the phoenix halberd in her hand was far from ordinary.
“Agreed.” Hua Yunfei nodded. The great star hovering above his head blazed ever more fiercely, crowding the heavens, bearing down toward the black ancient battle chariot.
Li Xiaoman’s lotus battle armor flared, ringing with resonant sounds. With the silver battle halberd in hand, she finally struck — a thread of silver-river-like brilliance swirled and coiled.
The phoenix halberd in her hand moved as though alive, drawing in the essential energy of heaven and earth. It gave a phoenix cry — then from it a silver divine phoenix surged, lunging forward.
Li Xiaoman swung the battle halberd, slashing diagonally toward Ye Fan’s neck — a vicious opening move, utterly merciless, intending to cleave off his head. It was decisive and direct.
At the same time, Hua Yunfei drove the great star, fully suppressing the black ancient battle chariot — making it impossible for Ye Fan to use the Sovereign Divine Weapon against his enemy, keeping him occupied.
Ye Fan smiled coldly, swinging the Divine Punishment Whip and lashing it onto the silver battle halberd. A clear, sky-piercing ring resounded — like a great yellow bell and massive chime resonating.
He stood unmoved upon the battle chariot and said: “You are not yet good enough!”
Li Xiaoman’s body shook violently. She was sent flying a great distance — yet suffered no serious harm. Her pupils burst with two golden rays. A surge of vigorous energy emanated. She uttered a light cry.
In that moment, a mysterious divine force undulated outward. Her eyes transformed into golden pupils. An inexplicable quality came over her entire being — like a sacred being born into the world.
It was a most uncanny change. A golden radiance flowed across her entire body. Like a deity condescending to the mortal world. Behind her, a terrifying vision appeared.
An unknown existence — like a god enthroned on high — with numerous golden-body arhats prostrate at its feet, and even bodhisattvas, divine sacred blood flowing from them.
Li Xiaoman grew somewhat eerie. With each opening and closing of those pale-gold eyes, two terrifying beams of light shot forth — yet her entire being also grew ever more sacred and inviolable.
Her cloud-like hair nearly transformed to gold. The lotus battle armor was as though cast from molten gold, slowly changing color. Only the phoenix halberd in her hand remained silver, shimmering with holy light.
“This powerful force — it absolutely is not from the Dao Palace secret realm…” A jolt went through Ye Fan’s heart. He felt something very wrong about Li Xiaoman.
Li Xiaoman seemed cast from gold — her skin crystalline — yet enveloped in golden sacred light. She walked forward step by step with not the slightest trace of worldly dust, bringing with her a kind of pressure difficult to articulate. Her bearing was completely at odds with who she had been.
“Whose power is this?!” Ye Fan cried out. Taking the initiative, he drove the black battle chariot forward, swinging the Divine Punishment Whip in a strike.
The great star in the sky shook violently, blocking the ancient battle chariot. Hua Yunfei brought his immortal-ascending force to intercept — preventing him from drawing close.
Ye Fan let out a long howl. The golden Tai Chi circle outside his body blazed with glory, turning yin and yang, flowing with the power of life and death. The gate of life was aimed at himself — the gate of death turned toward the immortal-ascending force.
Clang!
Li Xiaoman struck. The phoenix halberd in her hand chimed lightly, transforming into a divine phoenix that surged forward, clashing fiercely with the Divine Punishment Whip — this time it was actually evenly matched.
Ye Fan could not believe she had cultivated to this level. That golden sacred power absolutely did not belong to her — it was eerie and mysterious, making even him deeply apprehensive. Yet he could not make out the situation.
He was not afraid. Evolving the Tai Chi circle through the Battle Secret Art, standing on the dragon chariot with the Divine Punishment Whip in hand, he battled Li Xiaoman in a great fight — divine power inexhaustible, blood aura like an eternal divine furnace, blazing fiercely.
“Both of you — come and meet your deaths!” Ye Fan sneered coldly. He elevated his combat power to the Eight Forbidden Realm.
Hua Yunfei broke into a loud laugh. The Great Dao Sacred Vessel drifted up and down. With the Phoenix-Winged Gilded Trident in hand, he struck decisively — he was not a stiff and rigid person. What was there about single combat that was more than empty talk? He acted without restraint.
Ye Fan battled both of them — already facing a formidable enemy, and now with powerful reinforcements arriving, making it even harder to fight.
Hum!
The void trembled. Li Xiaoman’s body flowed with sacred pure divine radiance. It was as though a divine diagram had been draped over her. Golden small vortices appeared one after another across her body’s surface.
Every golden vortex seemed to connect to a world — unfathomably deep. Within each one sat a golden silhouette in meditation — of noble and solemn bearing, like a deity in slumber.
Ye Fan used the golden Tai Chi circle to repel Hua Yunfei, dissolving the immortal-ascending force, causing him to sustain a light wound once more. Then like a flood dragon he charged toward Li Xiaoman.
A vast heavenly sound arose. Li Xiaoman was enveloped in golden radiance. The three hundred and sixty-five golden small vortices emitted a sound like chanting.
“What is this?!”
Ye Fan’s body shook violently. Were it not for the golden Tai Chi circle blocking — his body untouched by all techniques — he would likely have had his ear bones pierced through by this mysterious heavenly sound, stabbed into the depths of his mind.
Boom!
He evolved the Battle Secret Art, swung the Divine Punishment Whip, and cleaved toward Li Xiaoman’s head — unstoppable divine force destroying every technique, shattering the void!
The heavens collapsed. Li Xiaoman was forced backward — yet the three hundred and sixty-five golden small vortices on her body became ever deeper, blazing with light that surged skyward.
The vast heavenly sound — like a world-extinguishing great millstone turning — ground everything apart with its divine resonance, endlessly slamming into the golden Tai Chi circle with a force of hundreds of millions of tons.
Bang!
Endless void shattered. Under this vast divine sound, it broke apart in an instant. Only the three hundred and sixty-five golden vortices continued to turn.
Boom!
The golden Tai Chi circle shook violently. Ye Fan opened himself to the full power of the Eight Forbidden Realm — striking with grand sweeping blows — elevating his strength to its absolute limit. He broke through that resplendent golden radiance and brought the Divine Punishment Whip smashing down.
Bang!
Something terrifying occurred. From the three hundred and sixty-five golden vortices, each emitted a ray of divine light. They formed three hundred and sixty-five golden palms, blocking the Divine Punishment Whip.
Otherwise, the wooden whip — shaped like a sword or a rod — would have lashed Li Xiaoman until her bones broke and her tendons snapped. There was no way she could have endured it.
“This is not your power!” Ye Fan’s heart shook violently. He sensed a dangerous aura — one that felt familiar, yet he could not identify whose it was.
Li Xiaoman uttered a light cry. The golden light in both her eyes blazed greatly. She was like a golden female war god. From within her body flew a sheet of golden light — like an ancient scroll.
All three hundred and sixty-five golden vortices were upon it. They separated from her body’s surface, transforming into a diagram that closed over Ye Fan — seeking to suppress him beneath.
In that split second, divine sound, chanting, and sacrificial hymns came piercing through time from an ancient primordial age — vast and solemn, sacred and serene — descending from the golden ancient scroll!
Ye Fan could vaguely see: within the three hundred and sixty-five golden vortices, the seated golden silhouettes had all opened their eyes. They were absolutely all the same person — for that gaze was identical, belonging to the sole and unique divine being.
Boom!
Chanting resounded through heaven and earth. A golden divine temple formed from heavenly sound descended from the sky. Within it, golden-body arhats bled. Bodhisattvas lay dead. Seven-colored divine blood flowed — a terrifying sight — suppressing down toward Ye Fan.
“Whose power is this? I must have seen it before…” A trace of unease stirred in Ye Fan’s heart.
Boom!
At the same time, Hua Yunfei drove the great star down as well, carrying the Sovereign Divine Weapon to grind down his divine power — a merciless kill strike.
Ye Fan roared. Within the golden Tai Chi circle, he transformed into the dragon-shaped Dao marking. Both hands pushed yin and yang, evolving the power of life and death — standing alone against two great powers!
In that moment, the golden Tai Chi circle, the dragon chariot, and the Divine Punishment Whip became one. The three unified into a single whole.
The great star above Hua Yunfei’s head trembled. His form showed cracks. The golden divine temple also shook violently — difficult to stabilize.
Ye Fan let out a long howl. Combat power surged and boiled, elevated to the Eight Forbidden Realm. He surged skyward, clashing hard against two great powers.
Boom!
A thunderous roar. The perfect golden Tai Chi circle and the dragon chariot unified — a surging force vast as an ocean erupted from them.
Bang!
Hua Yunfei suffered grave injury. Together with the great star, he was sent flying. At the same time, Li Xiaoman’s body also shook violently. She opened her mouth and spat several large mouthfuls of fresh blood.
Ye Fan’s eyes were cold and indifferent. Transforming into a streak of divine light, he pursued them — intending to kill both, saying: “Even joining forces, it avails you nothing!”