“Is something wrong with one of the Ancestors?” Ji Ziyue muttered to herself, her expression shifting as well — she still hadn’t sensed that killing intent.
The Ji Family had one Ancestor who only had his last breath remaining, on the verge of passing from this world. Unless something of great importance arose, or he summoned someone, that bell would never be rung.
The important elder figures of the Ji Family had all departed, leaving behind only some cultivators of relatively modest cultivation to accompany the guests.
When everything had settled into quiet, a tremor ran through the exterior of the great hall. A middle-aged man walked in, holding a white bone banner, dressed in hemp garments, his head bound with a white band — a full mourning attire. He arrived at the hall entrance.
“Sacred Physique, come out and present your head!” The killing intent was sharp as a blade, cold enough to pierce the bones. Behind him followed a massive crowd — men and women, young and old — a dark, dense mass of people, each radiating a murderous aura.
Judging by their attire, they were all members of the Ji Family, and moreover direct-line members — their identities were far from ordinary.
Ji Ziyue’s expression changed. She understood at once. “Xiao Yezi, leave quickly,” she said.
She then stepped forward gracefully with elegant poise, her expression holy and serene, like a goddess of the moon, a hazy luminescence flowing around her as she blocked the hall entrance. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Ziyue, step aside. I am here to execute this evil and avenge your great-grandaunt!” The middle-aged man’s face was sinister and grim.
The person leading the group was Ji Hui’s eldest son, and the rest were all Ji Hui’s blood relatives. It was evidently premeditated — the moment the Holy Sovereign and the others had left, people had come to kill Ye Fan.
The older and more powerful an ancient noble family, the more intense the internal power struggles. The Ji Family was no exception, divided into several factions with deeply tangled roots. Years ago, even Ji Ziyue herself had nearly been killed by certain members of her own clan, the mastermind being her cousin Ji Biyue.
“This is not the family head’s decision. What you’re doing violates the family rules.” Ji Ziyue blocked the way.
“Ziyue, you are wrong. This is the will of the entire clan. Step aside quickly. Today, the Sacred Physique must die!” The middle-aged man’s expression was terrifying.
Swoosh!
A strand of holy light manifested in the sky — it was the ancient Void Mirror drifting through the air, someone catalyzing a strand of Ultimate Dao Imperial might. They had made up their minds to eliminate Ye Fan.
In the great hall, silence fell like a blanket — this was all far too sudden. Was this truly the decision of the entire clan?
A powerful ancient noble family, if they produced an Ultimate Dao Imperial Weapon and the entire clan above and below desired to kill one person — unless that person had transcended the mortal world and become a Saint, they couldn’t even hope to escape!
“The Ji Family has actually chosen to snuff out the Sacred Physique!”
“This is truly too sudden!”
The crowd erupted in an uproar. This kind of thing had happened after all — it defied the expectations of everyone present.
“I don’t believe this is of your own accord. Aren’t you afraid the family head will punish you for this?!” Ji Ziyue’s voice rang out clear and crisp, like pearls of every size falling upon a jade plate.
“This is the will of the clan. Ziyue, step aside — do not lead yourself astray!” The middle-aged man’s expression was cold and remote.
Chaos erupted in the great hall as people fell back en masse. If the Ultimate Dao Imperial might descended, no one could withstand it.
By this point, everyone had come to understand — the Ji Family absolutely had a powerful faction that intended to eliminate Ye Fan. Even the Holy Sovereign and others could be lured away. The depth of their power was evident.
“The so-called Sacred Physique, before fully maturing, amounts to nothing. Killing him is fine — it’s just killing!” A powerful Elder of the Ji Family spoke up, his voice cold and frosty, drifting down from high above.
Thereafter, the Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family was the first to descend, carrying with him an air of boundless cold disdain. His hands clasped behind his back, he stood atop the high platform and looked down upon Ye Fan. “You killed my descendant and ran wild in my Ji Clan’s territory — what do you take this place for? Never mind that you haven’t yet fully matured — even if you truly had, you would find it impossible to walk out of the Ji Family once you had entered it. Beneath the ancient Void Mirror, no soul survives!”
Ye Fan let out a quiet sigh and held the bronze coffin horizontally before him. Words were useless now — the only option was to block the Imperial Weapon’s might.
“I will not allow you to do this!” Ji Ziyue stepped back and placed herself in front of Ye Fan, spreading her arms wide, gazing up at the holy radiance in the sky above where an ancient mirror was faintly manifesting.
“Ji Family’s Old Eight — what you’re doing is far too dishonorable!” The Red Dragon Elder spoke up, his expression grave.
Boom!
The Monkey’s dark-gold staff struck the ground, sending the entire ancient hall into a shuddering tremor. “Do you Ji Family people truly think you’re number one in the world?” he declared.
The Fifth Great Bandit, Wu Dao, let out a sigh. “Know this — you are not the only ones in this world with an Ultimate Dao Imperial Weapon. Plant a cause today, and the fruit will come in time.”
“The Ji Family killing the Sacred Physique is none of your concern,” the Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family said with a cold laugh.
“You want to kill me that badly?” Ye Fan was composed. Even facing the Void Mirror, whose name had shaken the ages, he felt no fear — meeting it with serene calm.
“Yes. I very much want to kill you. Eliminating you once and for all removes any suspense, any concern for the future. And my Ji Clan has no need for a powerful Sacred Physique to arise.” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family condensed his voice into a thread, not wishing too many people to hear.
“Are you certain you can kill me?” Ye Fan asked calmly.
“What a joke. Never mind you — even if an ancient Saint arrived, it would make no difference. Killing you is no different from crushing an ant underfoot!” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family was brimming with confidence.
“Eighth Ancestor, you are going further and further down a path you cannot return from. Never mind the family head — even the other Elders will suppress you for this afterward.” Ji Ziyue said.
“Child, you are still young. The strength of our clan does not rely on outsiders. And even if the Sacred Physique truly reaches full maturity — what of it? We are the descendants of a Great Emperor. Would we need his protection? Killing him is the simplest solution.” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family replied, this too conveyed through a hidden transmission.
“Eighth Ancestor, you are acting out of private motives — to avenge Great-Grandaunt Ji Hui. This violates a grave taboo, and the other Elders will not agree to it.” Ji Ziyue tried to stall for time.
“Ziyue, you are wrong.” Just then, two figures appeared — two Elders of the Ji Family walked out and took their places behind the Eighth Ancestor.
“You both…” Ji Ziyue’s expression changed. She then stood before Ye Fan, her words absolutely resolute. “If you want to kill him, then destroy me beneath the ancient Void Mirror as well.”
The Red Dragon Daoist quickly inscribed formation patterns, light flashing, attempting to teleport Ye Fan away. However, this ancient hall was extraordinary — it suppressed and sealed all Dao patterns.
Boom!
The Monkey erupted in fury. With his fiery golden eyes, two beams of golden light shot from his pupils and tore through the void. Simultaneously, his staff swept horizontally, attempting to use the Battle-Saint Ape Clan’s methods to open a spatial passage.
However, the ancient hall forged from refined gold merely shuddered — there was no way to break through.
Pang Bo shouted loudly, “Do you want to make enemies of my Demon Clan?!”
Hum!
The ancient hall shook as a sheet of holy radiance cascaded down. Even those as powerful as the Red Dragon Daoist and the Monkey were rendered immobile, swept away and expelled from the battlefield.
At the same time, Ji Ziyue vanished into thin air — she too had been swept away by the light emitted from the ancient mirror, carried off to who knew where.
In the center of the hall, only Ye Fan remained. No one could approach him. The ancient hall rumbled and roared, quickly transforming into a martial arena, enclosed within a peculiar space.
Others could see everything from the outside yet were unable to draw near, all watching from a distance, marveling at the Ji Family’s mastery of spatial arts — standing unrivalled in the world, with no equal.
“Boy with the surname Ye — shall I scatter you to ruin beneath the ancient mirror piece by piece, or would you prefer to be riddled with wounds and die slowly?” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family stood high in the air, looking down with an air of unhurried ease.
“I say you cannot kill me — and that you will be walking toward your own destruction!” Ye Fan’s voice rang out sonorous and powerful.
“Is that so?” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family let out a cold shout. The ancient mirror drifted through the void above, a strand of Ultimate Dao Imperial might pouring down — a hazy expanse of light, holy and noble, yet pressing down with the weight of a collapsing cosmos.
Boom!
Everyone was seized with terror. Even those who stood outside the special space felt the threat of death wash over them. An Imperial Weapon was invincible — there was nothing that could resist it.
A hazy light came pressing down from what felt like an infinite distance away. Even with that gap, Ye Fan was nearly suffocating, his whole body on the verge of splitting apart. He swiftly held the bronze coffin over his head.
Hum!
The void trembled. Holy radiance pressed downward, and ripples bloomed across the surface of the bronze coffin. The patterns upon it undulated ceaselessly, surging upward in waves to resist the overwhelming might.
Then something that left everyone stunned beyond belief occurred: the strand of Imperial might flowed into the bronze coffin like water, and it did not pierce through.
“Heavens — what just happened? It… blocked an Imperial Weapon!”
“Unbelievable — though it was only a single strand of Ultimate Dao Imperial might, even so it is absolutely beyond the resistance of human power. How did it hold?!”
“An Imperial Weapon — the weapon of the Void Great Emperor — and it was blocked by that bronze coffin!”
Those on the outside erupted with clamor. Almost no one dared believe what they were witnessing. A rust-mottled bronze coffin had absorbed a surge of Imperial might — and sustained no damage of its own.
“What is this?” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family was incredulous. He had believed that killing Ye Fan here would be trivially easy — with the ancient Void Mirror, a casual slap would be enough to end him.
“This bronze coffin is extraordinarily strange!” Another Elder said gravely.
“I don’t believe it can truly block the Void Mirror.” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family let out a shout, then exerted his power, this time unleashing not merely a single strand of Imperial might but an entire column of it plunging downward. If an ancient Saint were struck by this, they would be immediately pierced through.
This was a surge of overwhelming pressure — like a billion stars in the cosmos gathering into one, condensed into a beam of annihilating light, invincible and unstoppable, penetrating directly from the heavens above to the earth below.
The wave of this force scattered all clouds in every direction in an instant, warped the void completely, pierced through who knew how many dimensional spaces, and penetrated through numerous small worlds.
Ye Fan sheltered beneath the bronze coffin, using it to withstand the heavens. The beam pressed down and struck the coffin — and still did not pierce through. The small coffin absorbed it like a whale gulping water, swallowing it rapidly.
In this moment, dead silence fell. Every person held their breath. Only when the divine radiance in the sky faded and disappeared completely, swallowed entirely into the bronze coffin, did the crowd erupt.
“Ultimate Dao!”
“This is an Ultimate Dao weapon!”
“God — this is beyond belief. A new Imperial Weapon has appeared in the world, the likes of which have never been heard of, and it has withstood the light of the Void Mirror!”
…
All of this was too wild, enough to make one feel suffocated. The bronze coffin that Ye Fan had carried on his back had turned out to be so terrifying. Not long ago, some people had thought nothing of it, and the Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family had even mocked it — yet none of them had imagined it could block Imperial might.
“Brother, do you know what that is?” Qi Huoshui asked. She had heard that the Southern Demon had once witnessed the scene of the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin in the Demon Emperor’s Palace.
The Southern Demon’s expression turned solemn. “It is something from beyond the domain. The frightening thing is not the bronze coffin itself — but what is entombed within it!”
“Is it a corpse, or something else?”
“Unknown.”
For everyone else, it went without saying — all of them had been stunned beyond measure, past the point of description. All of this was too unexpected, shattering the bounds of imagination.
Many people half believed they were dreaming. A bronze coffin capable of resisting an Imperial Weapon was like a fairy tale — and to think this was the very coffin Ye Fan had carried in on his back like a sack of hemp, something that not a single person had paid any attention to or given any importance to until just now.
“Little villain, I don’t care what you’ve brought with you — death is your inevitable end. There is no weapon in this world superior to an Imperial Weapon.” The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family said in an icy tone. “Revive the Imperial Weapon — reduce him to eternal perdition, deny him any chance of transcendence, and smelt this bronze coffin into my Ji Family’s ancient mirror!”
What had been unleashed before was only the natural emanation of the Void Mirror’s aura. Now they intended to awaken the divine spirit within the ancient mirror, unleashing the might that the ancient Great Emperor himself had once possessed.
Boom!
The ancient mirror emerged from the void into greater tangibility, and began the process of awakening. It emitted a breath that seemed to have opened Heaven and split the Earth — like an ancient and primordial cosmos in the process of unfolding.
The Void Mirror must not be allowed to fully revive! Ye Fan told himself inwardly. If it did, it would be equivalent to a strike from an ancient Great Emperor — something beyond all imagination.
Clang!
With every ounce of strength he possessed, he circulated the Soldier Word Art and pushed with supreme brute force, intending to forcibly open the ancient coffin.
Clatter, clatter!
He wrapped himself in the Immortal Treasure Scroll he had obtained from the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest, then sacrificed the Myriad Things Mother Breath Cauldron and drew himself inside it.
It was incomparably arduous. Ye Fan was drenched in sweat, his whole body on the verge of splitting apart — yet he managed to lift the lid of the bronze coffin by a fraction, and from it arose a divine sound of the Grand Dao!
What was inside the bronze coffin? This was the question on everyone’s mind — and none of them had yet found the answer. Could it truly stand against the Imperial Weapon now in the process of awakening? People were nearly suffocating, burning with a desire to immediately peer into everything within the coffin.