The Yin-Yang Death Curse — this was the most powerful final strike of each successive Yin-Yang Sect Master at the moment of death. Whether you were a Sacred Lord or a Demon Lord, once struck by it, escape was nearly impossible.

The Forest of the Underworld, the Ten Halls of the King of Hell, all manner of illusory scenes materialized together — one after another of dark and towering halls, vast and terrifying, as though one had arrived in the realm of the dead.

The silver figurine, not even the height of a palm, was the crystallization of the Yin-Yang Sect Master’s entire combat power over a lifetime. His final strike before death had gathered all of his strength accumulated over that lifetime, transforming into a blazing radiance that buried Ye Fan beneath it.

“It’s over — Little Ye Fan cannot escape his doom!”

“This is terrible — the Yin-Yang Death Curse has no antidote. Once struck, death is certain!”

Behind them, those who cared for him all changed color. Even if great cultivators came, it would be useless — whoever touched it would die, and there was simply no way to dissolve it.

“Little Ye Fan, hold on!” Ji Ziyue sat cross-legged in the void, her entire body radiating divine mist, channeling boundless heaven and earth energy toward her brother, driving a vermillion-gold divine lamp.

This was a flawed sacred weapon left behind by an ancient sage of the Ji Family — deeply deficient compared to a true peerless sacred relic, yet supremely domineering, capable of extinguishing Sacred Lords without difficulty.

The vermillion-gold divine lamp was extraordinarily precious. Three great cultivators had come to support it, and together with Ji Haoyue, they channeled the Divine King’s original power to drive it.

“Pssht!”

The ancient lamp flickered with uncertain light — burning without extinction since ancient times to this day — as crimson divine gold flashed with red mist, brilliantly vivid. The lampfire blazed with splendor, and a divine phoenix burst into the sky, its cry rending the nine heavens.

The crimson-blood divine phoenix swept across the horizon, sweeping away all the formation runes before it. The mountain ranges ahead ignited like paper in an instant and were reduced to ash.

“Pop!”

On the other side, a dark-red ancient mirror appeared — hovering and sinking, one face black as ink and the other red as blood — shooting forth a tide of yin-yang death light.

“Clang!”

The crimson-blood divine phoenix and the ancient mirror collided again and again. In a single instant, countless mountain ranges were reduced to a sea of dust, with nothing remaining.

During this process, those who had been hiding in that area were nearly all wiped out. Even two great cultivators among them failed to escape their fate.

This dreadful spectacle caused those further away to shudder uncontrollably. And yet these were only flawed replicas of ancient sage weapons — not the true peerless sacred relics.

“The might of a sage is unshakeable. A single drop of their essence blood is enough to slay a peak-level Sacred Lord. These flawed weapons, though largely worn down, are still nearly impossible to withstand.”

“Little Ye Fan…” The crowd cried out in dismay. The crimson-blood divine phoenix was formidable, spiraling around Ye Fan — yet it simply could not swoop down toward him.

The ancient Yin-Yang Mirror blocked the way, utterly terrifying. It inhaled and exhaled the power of heaven and earth, and there was no way to get close. Even if it did get close, it might very well reduce everything to ash along with him.

At this moment, Ye Fan felt as though ten thousand arrows were piercing his heart — a terrible agony. The Yin-Yang Death Curse had come upon his body, seeking to sever his divine soul. This was a strange and insidious power, infiltrating through every crack, nearly impossible to guard against.

On the surface of his body, the beauty of rivers and mountains appeared, an immortal king reigned over the nine heavens, a golden sea of bitterness arose — various auspicious manifestations erupted together. Yet most effective of all was the Yin-Yang Life-Death Diagram manifestation.

It entangled with the death curse and evolved continuously. A yin-yang diagram rose and sank, releasing an intimidating might, while the Palace of the Underworld and the ten-directional purgatory circled all around.

“Ye Fan, hold on!” Pang Bo roared. The Nine Slashes of the Demon Emperor erupted all at once, imbued with his own life essence, and he was about to strike it through.

“Bang!”

A Ji Family great cultivator struck him with a palm, used his hand to guide the blow, and forcibly drew his essence vitality back, channeling it into his own body: “It will not work — you will only send yourself into it as well.”

“Then what do we do?” Ji Ziyue asked, and then, after a moment’s thought, opened her mouth and expelled a ray of divine mist — like a bolt of silk, shooting toward Ye Fan.

“Ziyue, what are you doing?!” Ji Haoyue was greatly alarmed. The manifestation of the Rising Full Moon Over the Sea appeared — an endless jade sea, waves shimmering, a full moon rising — blocking that divine mist.

“This secret treasure has merged with your original spirit. It cannot be sacrificed externally, and certainly cannot be ground down. If it is destroyed, you will perish.” The Ji Family great cultivators were frightened out of their wits, and rushed to stop her as well.

“Pssht!”

The divine mist trembled, was forcibly drawn back, and disappeared back into Ji Ziyue’s body. She swayed and said: “This is that divine object from the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace — it should be able to break the death curse. I will be fine.”

“Absolutely not. You have not merged with it. To forcibly wield it now would surely bring a death calamity upon you — great disaster would follow!” The Ji Family elders quickly sealed her away, terrified she might act rashly.

In the distance, everyone was astonished. All had known Ji Ziyue carried a secret treasure within her body, but none had imagined it had such an extraordinary origin.

Countless ages ago, someone had carried half of an “immortal corpse” out from the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace on their back. It had been divided among the several most powerful sacred grounds of the Eastern Wastelands, and the Ji Family had received one immortal treasure from among them, which they had been nurturing within Ji Ziyue’s body.

Back in the Eastern Wastelands, Xiao Nannan had once shown a look of wonder and said that Ji Ziyue carried a treasure within her — and that was precisely it.

The Yin-Yang Life-Death Curse was peculiar: it infiltrated through every gap and could not be resisted by any manner of secret technique. Once it locked onto a person, it went straight for their source.

“Boom!”

Ye Fan’s body shook violently. The Yin-Yang Death Curse had entered his body. His vitality was extinguished — death energy surged — and it was nearly on the verge of destroying everything within him.

“Suppress!”

A soft shout left his lips. Nine ancient characters surfaced, sinking into his body. The nine Emperor characters from the Dao Scripture flowed in like liquid silver in an instant, seeking to suppress the Yin-Yang Life-Death Curse.

“It will not work. His cultivation realm is too low. Even with the Emperor’s formation runes, they cannot be truly operated — their full effect cannot be brought to bear!” In the distance, one of the Ji Family’s great cultivators spoke.

The Yin-Yang Death Curse burned away Ye Fan’s divine power, destroyed his vitality, and ran rampant within his body — seeking to devour him and transform him completely into a corpse.

This was not an ordinary attack, but a curse of resentment — profoundly strange and insidious, impossible to guard against. Once it had locked onto a person’s aura, it would not cease until death.

“Six Immortal Seals!”

In Ye Fan’s eyes, runes flickered. Infinite stars shimmered as he inscribed characters within his own body with his divine thought — densely packed, like a vast starry sky.

“Boom!”

Divine flames blazed upward, but to no avail. The Yin-Yang Death Curse could not be ground away. It had been formed from a fundamental principle of heaven and earth — an intangible and incorporeal thing.

“Ahh—”

Ye Fan cried out. Golden blood coursed rapidly throughout his body, and his heart thundered like a war drum, the waves it emitted reverberating so forcefully that those nearby felt their ear bones buzz and ring.

The Yin-Yang Death Curse could slay a Sacred Lord. It was only by virtue of his formidable physique that he had resisted to this point. On the surface of his body, one yin-yang rune after another appeared, filled with the aura of death.

“Little Ye Fan!” Li Heishui and the others cried out, anxious yet unable to help in any way.

Ye Fan struggled to lift the wolf-tooth great club in his hand — the one borrowed from Dongfang Ye, capable of releasing one strike equivalent to an ancient sage’s weapon. Yet at this moment, it was utterly useless.

Unless he were to annihilate himself along with it, there was no way. The curse was intangible, and had long since merged with him.

Ye Fan trembled all over, sitting cross-legged in the void. Within his four great secret realms — the Wheel and Sea, the Dao Palace, the Four Poles, and the Dragon Transformation — the sound of sutras began to rise, reverberating through the heavens.

He cultivated four powerful ancient scriptures. Though all were incomplete, pieced together they were without rival in the world, containing the profound mysteries of the supreme great Dao.

The sutras thundered like dragons, like phoenixes, like kylins, reverberating through the nine heavens and ten earths as wind and clouds changed and heaven and earth lost their color. Yet even so, the curse could not be erased.

“The Holy Body commands a profound awe in the heart — he masters countless secret techniques. If he were to reach the Sacred Lord realm, he could be called nearly undefeatable under heaven, breaking the Yin-Yang Death Curse would be no problem. But his cultivation realm is too low right now!” The Ji Family’s great cultivators were deeply shaken.

“A death curse formed by a living fossil sacrificing their very life — and it has not immediately destroyed him! This is truly chilling!” Those among the enemy forces felt cold sweat in their hearts. A Holy Body like this truly inspired dread — if he were to grow to full strength, who could oppose him?

“Break for me!”

Ye Fan roared — yet still he could do nothing. The death curse was intangible and incorporeal, entangled with his very source. A deadly final strike from a living fossil — with his current cultivation level, he simply could not break it.

He tried a hundred methods, made ten thousand efforts — all of it futile. Ye Fan turned savage. Instead of continuing to resist, he guided the death curse and charged it directly toward the deepest part of his Wheel and Sea source.

There, two pieces of green copper rested — divine and unhurried, showing no reaction whatsoever. He used this to drive against the supreme treasure of the Central Province.

“Boom!”

Boundless radiance shot out from within his body. Death energy boiled, like a pot coming to a full boil, surging outward in all directions.

“The Holy Body is still holding on…” People almost could not believe it.

The Yin-Yang Death Curse charged into the Wheel and Sea, crashed against the two pieces of green copper, and was immediately sent flying back — shaken away in large part, forced back out through the eye of the Wheel and Sea’s divine spring.

“Damn it all!” Ye Fan cursed. Those two old pieces of bronze remained immovable as mountains, repelling the death curse, and then settled back like bedrock — still and inert, doing absolutely nothing.

In the end, his expression changed. The curse charged toward his sea of consciousness — seeking to destroy his divine soul.

If his physical body shattered, it could still be repaired. But if his spiritual consciousness was destroyed, the entire person would be as good as gone. Ye Fan let out a long cry. Left with no choice, he prepared to abandon his physical body and escape with just his divine thought.

At his brow, the small golden lake pulsed and rippled. A golden figurine identical in every way to himself stepped out from it, about to burst upward into the sky.

Yet the death energy was like a deep abyss, cutting off the road ahead — trapping him at the brow, unable to flee.

“This is terrible — the most terrifying aspect of the Yin-Yang Death Curse has manifested. Nothing burns and nothing is spared, no divine soul is safe!”

Those with any knowledge of it all retreated, hearts trembling with dread. The terrible death curse had fully activated — there was not the slightest room for resolution.

“Heaven and earth become the furnace, yin and yang become the fire — forging and burning the divine, annihilating all living beings!”

This was the Yin-Yang Death Curse. It had been created in ancient times by the most powerful sage of a past age — said to have been undefeatable under heaven in his later years, when he encountered a divine being from the outer domains, and self-destructed his body and ground away that divine being’s divine soul.

Heaven and earth as a bronze furnace, the death curse as fire — burning fiercely, scorching Ye Fan’s body, refining and dissolving his consciousness.

“Crash, crash!”

The golden figurine formed from Ye Fan’s divine thought opened its mouth and inhaled, drawing out from within the Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron an ancient scroll and draping it across itself.

Upon it, stars shimmered — like a map of the starry sky, flowing with a dreamlike luster. It was precisely the immortal treasure brought out from the Chaotic Ten Thousand Dragons’ Nest — once held by the Battle-Victorious Sage Emperor and the Ruthless Great Emperor.

“Boom!”

The death curse erupted in full force, yet it was unable to immediately destroy Ye Fan — it only burned him to the point of near collapse.

“He is still not dead!” In the distance, those in the opposing camp all felt a chill in their hearts. The Holy Body’s life force was too overwhelming. Even with a secret treasure for protection, surely one should not be able to endure this long.

“Little Ye Fan, hold on — if you cannot break it, exhaust the death curse’s power!” Ji Ziyue called out.

“Right — it has already consumed the Yin-Yang Sect Master to his death. Now exhaust his death curse as well, so he dies in vain, leaving behind only lasting regret!” Pang Bo and the others roared in encouragement.

“He can hold on for half an hour at most!”

“Perhaps even a full day!”

The enemies in the shadows all laughed coldly. Many of them prepared to collect a corpse here.

One hour, two hours, three hours…

One day, two days, three days…

Ye Fan truly held on. He endured for a full eight days and still had not died — still stubbornly persisting!

“What in the world — is he the reincarnation of a nine-lives cat?”

“Damn it — how is he still alive?!”

Those in the opposing camp could not sit still any longer, yet there was nothing they could do. Eight days had passed, and it had long since stirred the Eccentric Scholar’s Manor — several powerful deputy masters had arrived and laid down a ten-directional great formation, standing guard here to protect him.

Ten days, twenty days, thirty days…

A full month passed. Ye Fan’s bones had been burned out through his flesh, his blood and tissue nearly dried up — but he was still alive.

“Why won’t he die?!”

“Little Ye Fan, hold on — the power of the death curse is almost spent!”

The reaction of those in the opposing camp and those who cared for him were entirely opposite — yet there was one point they shared: their emotions ran high and they could not calm themselves.

This time, the Yin-Yang Death Curse had appeared, and after a full month it had still not refined Ye Fan into nothing. This stirred all the great powers of the Central Province, and many great figures came to observe.

To say nothing of the outstanding talents within the Eccentric Scholar’s Manor and the many young experts of the Central Province — all had come, and every day there were people watching the center of the scene.

In the blink of an eye, seven times seven — forty-nine days. Ye Fan’s physical body was nearly burned to ruin: his bones were jutting out, his flesh was devastated, and his golden blood was almost entirely dried up.

This was a purgatory-like torment. His consciousness was also flickering in and out — the golden figurine sat motionless, cross-legged before his brow, submerged in the flames of the death curse.

Ye Fan understood that his ability to endure came not only from the vitality of the Holy Body surpassing all others, but also from the pieces of green copper and that starry scroll — neither of which was actively doing anything, yet both were of great use.

Heaven and earth as a furnace, yin and yang as fire — combining together, truly manifesting into a terrible divine furnace, trapping Ye Fan within it and forging him.

“Boom!”

On the forty-ninth day, the sky suddenly blazed with lightning and rolling thunder, and fierce winds howled. Blazing electrical light cascaded downward, like the silver river of the nine heavens collapsing.

“Impossible — he is undergoing tribulation now?!”

“After forty-nine days of this tempering, he was still not refined to death — and he has broken through at this very moment?!”

“How can this be? The Holy Body is too terrifying. Has the Yin-Yang Sect Master died for nothing? Ye Fan has actually summoned a heavenly tribulation at the brink of death — using it to ascend another floor!”

Everyone found it inconceivable. Ye Fan was too tenacious — forty-nine days of refining had not broken him, and even at this moment of crisis he broke through. It was truly monstrous.

“Boom!”

Ten thousand zhang of thunder and lightning descended from the heavens. It was more terrifying than any heavenly tribulation before — for this was not a breakthrough of a minor level, but of a major secret realm.

Dragon Transformation reaching Grand Completion, the dragon leaping to the Immortal Platform — the heavenly tribulation this summoned was terrifying enough to make one shudder!

Within Ye Fan’s parched body, a great dragon within his spinal column raised its head and surged upward toward the Immortal Platform, becoming an eternal divine light that looked down upon all living beings. It returned to the primordial source, carrying within it the mystery of creation itself.

That dragon had truly come back to life. Now it was marching toward a higher realm — exhaling a single immortal pearl, illuminating and transforming it into a supreme Immortal Platform!