The moment the words left Ye Fan’s mouth, he immediately pulled out the rotten wooden stopper and plugged the gourd’s mouth again. The battlefield was guarded by an ancient formation, and he feared nothing could penetrate it.

The golden desert: every grain of sand was like red gold, shimmering with radiance, the heat unbearable.

Once a primordial ancient forest, this place had become a land of silence and death. Scorching heat, burning dryness, and death had become its eternal themes.

The two ancient lifeforms that had stepped out of the ancient ship like gods were very different from each other. One stood tall and upright — powerfully built — with a head of dense golden hair and a pair of golden ancestral dragon horns.

His bearing was awe-inspiring. Aside from those dragon horns, he was barely distinguishable from the human race — and that made him all the more terrifying. He inspired trembling at the very sight of him, a supreme existence of noble bloodline. Even the greatest human cultivators felt a compulsion to bow down on their knees before him.

His powerful aura caused every inch of flesh and blood in those who perceived it to tremble involuntarily, as though to prostrate before a divine being. Such was an ancient Great Sage.

The other ancient lifeform was equally imposing. He had a head of silver hair that fell to his waist, shining with mirror-like clarity. His face seemed carved from marble — all clean angles and edges — and as white as jade.

On his forehead grew a diamond-shaped white scale that could open and close faintly, containing a terrifying divine light within — seemingly capable of piercing through the three realms and six paths. Even a single strand of the aura leaking from it made those present unable to stand, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Two such powerful ancient lifeforms appearing together was truly daunting. Each one was this terrifying — like divine demons who could shake all the heavens, descended into the mortal dust.

The two were cold and expressionless, without the slightest emotional fluctuation. They came straight at the old madman and struck, meeting the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist head-on.

This was no different from the opening of heaven and earth. Primordial light of the beginning, the laws of the primal state — all descended at once, everything shrouded in haze.

One could clearly see dark chasms opening in the sky — dimensional spaces being smelted down, becoming part of the divine law-order and placed at their disposal.

Within the ancient ship were dozens of ancient kings, all of whom had channeled their life essence into these two Great Sages, allowing them to display once more their supreme magnificence of former days — which made them fearsome to a terrifying degree.

“Swish!”

A casual strike — the void annihilated. A finger extended — a great collapse. Primordial chaos was opened up from nothing, ready to be used as a sacrificial furnace to refine the young madman alive.

The two Great Sages striking together — from ancient times to the present, who could stand against them? This was a supreme form. Ordinarily, only someone on the verge of attaining the Dao would dare provoke them — anyone else would certainly die.

They were the most terrifying beings born across ten thousand races. In all three ancient lands combined, only three such beings had arrived here. One could well imagine how difficult it was to cultivate to this level.

And yet the frenzied youth at the center of the battlefield was overwhelmingly forceful. He had cultivated the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist to completion — otherwise, any other human saint facing this situation would likely have been beaten to death already.

It had to be said: once the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist was fully cultivated, there was no equal in heaven or on earth, and nothing that could withstand it. The youth’s dense black hair streamed through the air like a divine being, his movements vast and mighty, ready to knock every star in the heavens from the sky.

Each punch dominated the heavens and sealed the earth — as though capable of shattering a universe, destroying a star domain. Extraordinarily impressive, deserving to be called power beyond compare.

From ancient times to the present, it had been unheard of for more than a few people to have cultivated the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist to completion. Once this fist technique was fully mastered, no divine artifact, no weapon of any kind was needed — all could be reduced to powder.

“Pft!”

The golden-haired Great Sage’s pair of dragon horns shot out two blazing beams of divine light that cut through the heavens, broke through the old madman’s towering protective aura, and came down — sending blood flying in an instant, nearly tearing one of his arms from his body.

Saint’s blood surged, white bone gleaming with an eerie light — an extremely gruesome sight. Yet the old madman did not furrow his brow even once. His fist’s momentum grew even more awe-inspiring as he closed the distance.

“Hum!”

The void shuddered. The other Great Sage — with silver hair flying wildly — had the diamond-shaped scale on his brow open wide. Within it was an utterly black void, and from it shot a dragon-shaped white light.

“Pft!”

A flash of blood. The young madman’s heart was pierced through. The blood from his heart surged skyward, forming a wave of blood — vivid and shocking.

Everyone’s heart sank in dread. These two Great Sages were too powerful. A strike like this could sink an entire continent, bring meteorites crashing down from the heavens. Even the young madman, as powerful as he was, could not possibly neutralize every such attack entirely. The power within those strikes was saturated with divine law-order, capable of continuously eroding his life force.

But even with his heart blood beaten out of him, the youth at the center of the battlefield showed not a single trace of retreat. His battle-intent was frenzied, utterly heedless of the exposed white bone and the blood spraying in all directions. The Six Paths Reincarnation Fist became even more powerful than before.

“Roar…!”

The black-haired youth let out a great cry, and mountains and rivers trembled. Even with the ancient formation as protection, the desert still seethed and surged, rising and falling like a stormy sea, waves of sand crashing up to blot out the sun.

“Bang!”

The old madman’s fist-intent was invincible. Both fists swung out — in the very instant his own chest was nearly split open — and landed simultaneously on the two Great Sages.

A spray of golden blood erupted. A rush of white demonic blood surged upward. Both tore through the void, terrifying beyond imagination. The bodies of both Great Sages were nearly beaten apart.

One had nearly half his body torn away. The other’s sternum was shattered, his internal organs reduced to a pulp.

“Bang!”

It was a brutal, merciless struggle. Both sides held nothing back, each wishing to kill the other in a single blow. The sacred tones of the Grand Dao resonated, three thousand laws descending.

This was the might of a Great Sage — at this level of combat, if not for the ancient formation’s protection, an entire great domain would be destroyed, a whole continent sunk.

“Flash!”

Suddenly, a radiance appeared in one ancient Great Sage’s hand — a divine tree, adorned with seven small branches of seven different colors, each giving off an extraordinarily dreadful aura, as though an entire divine realm had descended to press down upon the mortal dust.

With a sweep of his hand, seven-colored radiant light flew out, blocking the young madman’s fist from coming in, stopping the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist in its tracks. His own sacred technique then struck through, sending a great spray of blood into the air.

Another horrifying wound appeared on the old madman. White bone gleamed. Though his flesh and blood were indestructible, the erosion of Grand Dao laws made healing very difficult.

“The Undying Wondrous Tree!”

Ye Fan was alarmed. This was truly one of the supreme sacred weapons of the invincible tier — a legendary, supreme-ranked weapon, extremely difficult to nurture to completion.

But once it took full form, it combined both offense and defense, with power utterly beyond compare. Holding it in hand, one could sweep through all things above and below the heavens, and unless a Great Emperor of antiquity took action, ten thousand laws could not touch it.

“Fortunately the seventh branch has a flaw — its leaves don’t glow at full brilliance. Otherwise the old madman might not have been able to hold it off.” Ye Fan’s heart lurched, and he let out a long breath.

“There truly is such a thing as the Undying Wondrous Tree in this world!” Other individuals of the sect master level were also thoroughly shaken.

“Clang!”

The other ancient Great Sage — silver hair streaming — had the diamond-shaped scale on his forehead fall away, growing to the size of a millstone, cleaving through the ten thousand ages and all the heavens, spinning down in a slashing arc.

This strike carried tremendous power. It met the old madman’s fist head-on, cutting a line of blood and exposing white finger-bone — then it flew upward and slashed into his shoulder, nearly severing his arm from his body.

The millstone-sized silver scale was a world-shaking sacred weapon in its own right, born alongside this Great Sage, refined for an entire lifetime. Within it, a divine spirit had long since been birthed — its power no less than the Undying Wondrous Tree.

Had the old madman not cultivated the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist to completion, rather than merely opening a wound on his palm-bone, it would have turned him directly into ash.

Even so, after the collision — grazing his shoulder — it had nearly taken an entire arm with it, leaving him drenched in blood.

And this was no ordinary wound. Saturated with divine law-order capable of destroying a saint’s life force, handled poorly it would mean the annihilation of both form and spirit.

Behind them, every human cultivator was trembling. The old madman was at a disadvantage — these were two ancient Great Sages, each wielding supreme sacred weapons. Who could resist?

A Great Sage — these were the most supreme of titles. In the endless ages past, only a handful had emerged across multiple ancient star domains. Three Great Sages had come to this place.

This was a great crisis. Ancient Great Sages wielding their power — achievements so towering they obliterated all — destroying everything.

“Six Paths Reincarnation Fist!”

The old madman roared — the first time he had called the name of this fist technique aloud. In that instant, six ancient worlds manifested, flowing and turning within them.

Worlds were opened. The Six Paths turned. Endless cycles of reincarnation. Six enormous fists descended heavily in six ancient worlds.

“Boom!”

The invincible Six Paths Reincarnation Fist shook the Undying Wondrous Tree until its light dimmed, sent the diamond-shaped divine light scale spinning rapidly in reverse — six realms cycling, six fists landing one after another.

The heavens-shaking might!

Both Great Sages suffered severe damage — bones shattered across their bodies, golden blood and white sacred blood flying upward, the force of their fall collapsing the empty air.

Their bodies were nearly beaten apart. One could well imagine the terror of that fist technique.

However, in the same instant, the old madman was also struck. The Undying Wondrous Tree shot out divine light — three beams pierced straight through him — and the dragon-shaped divine radiance from the silver-haired Great Sage’s forehead nearly cut him in two at the waist.

All three flew backward. The impact force of this exchange was too devastating — even the outer divine formation was cracked open, a seam appearing, this patch of heaven and earth nearly destroyed.

Suddenly, the Thousand-Armed Divine Fiend — critically wounded and on the verge of death — struck. It turned itself into a streak of dark light and lunged at the old madman as he flew backward, moving to shatter him.

It had been waiting in silence for a long time. This one strike had been built up for a very long while, aimed to be a single killing blow.

The young madman was frenzied beyond all reason. Heedless of his injuries, he forcibly summoned a surge of foundational life essence, sending his sacred blood bursting simultaneously from every wound across his body, white bone shining with a ghastly light, snapping and cracking.

“Enough!”

He exhaled a sharp sound — the resonance of his innate foundation thundering, neutralizing that killing blow. The sound wave condensed into the sacred tones of the Heavenly Dao. Tens of thousands of divine chains were visible weaving together — the most primordial divine law-order.

“Pft!”

The Thousand-Armed Divine Fiend, already critically injured, could not resist. Cracks appeared in its primordial spirit and its body shuddered violently.

The old madman’s eyes blazed with frenzied killing intent. He surged forward, seized this Great Sage, raised it high overhead with both hands, and ripped with great force — a vast spray of blood flew in all directions.

The Thousand-Armed Divine Fiend was torn apart into two halves. Its primordial spirit — already cracked — attempted to escape, only to be met with a great roar from the young madman that shook it to pieces, leaving nothing behind.

Every onlooker was beyond stunned. An ancient Great Sage of the primordial era — killed just like that. From ancient times to the present, how many could have done this?

Danger!

At that very moment, the faces of every onlooker turned ashen. They all nearly cried out at once.

The other two Great Sages had closed in. These two had barely exhausted any of their vital energy — they were nearly at full strength, and they were nearly upon the old madman now, ready to end him beneath their supreme sacred weapons.

These two ancient lifeforms were clearly unlike the Thousand-Armed Divine Fiend. They had been recovering their vital energy since their appearance, not entering battle from a weakened state. Now, even wounded, it mattered little.

In that moment of extreme crisis, everyone heard a mysterious incantation, and from within a black gourd burst an ancient cosmos — condensing into a single Dao-sword that flew outward.

It traced the crack in the formation that the battle had torn open, slipped inside, and then — with a wet sound — sliced across the golden-haired Great Sage’s neck, separating his head from his body.

“Boom!”

The old madman cast down the Thousand-Armed Divine Fiend’s corpse, turned to meet the silver-haired Great Sage and block that heaven-defying strike — and simultaneously kicked outward, his foot crashing down on the other Great Sage’s headless body, nearly stamping it flat.