Among the Golden Crow clan’s ten princes, each was stronger than the last — and the greatest among them was none other than the sixth, Lu Ya, before whom even many sect masters had to bow their heads.

He was a Golden Crow that inspired genuine fear. Even in his youth, he had torn apart flood dragons and slain heavenly rukhs; his gifts were extraordinary. Now the count of peerless sect masters who had died at his hands had already exceeded five.

His hands were stained with blood; his own power was extreme, and beyond that, he had nine brothers — when all ten acted together, who in the world would dare provoke them?

Otherwise, how could he possibly have become sworn brothers with Yin Tiande, the Three-Deficit Daoren, and the Divine Son of the Supreme Yin? They were among the most fearsome figures the Ziwei Ancient Star Domain would produce in the generations to come.

Now that he appeared, he naturally startled many. Even the living fossils felt a start, and sect masters of all factions treated him as a peer — despite the fact that he was still very young.

Many female cultivators fixed their gazes upon him. Lu Ya had no Dao companion yet, and the Golden Crow Old King was presently making a selection on his behalf; not a few heaven-blessed daughters of ancient sects harbored certain thoughts on the matter.

“No — this is a projection of Lu Ya’s body. His true self has not come.” one of the sect masters remarked.

The Ninth Prince did not mind that Lu Ya had stolen his spotlight and drawn all eyes — he had long grown accustomed to it. This sixth brother of his was a prodigy of heaven-granted talent, and had been this way from childhood onward.

The two were similar in build, both tall and imposing, golden hair flowing and shimmering with golden light, golden pupils blazing out divine radiance sharp as sword blades.

They walked side by side, like two ancient golden divine beings descended to the mortal realm — majestic and awe-inspiring, golden energy permeating the air, golden flames dancing.

“Two princes…” Lang Tianye stepped forward to receive the Golden Crow clan’s emissaries; though he knew Lu Ya’s presence was only a projection, he dared not show even the slightest disrespect.

Many powerful figures came forward as well, proactively greeting the two Golden Crow princes — which alone illustrated how dominant the clan was, and to what degree they inspired caution and dread.

Among the younger generation, not a few came forward to pay their respects, many performing the courtesies of a junior, deferring to Lu Ya’s projection with considerable unease.

“Which one among them was it?” The Ninth Prince, his golden hair ablaze like fire, had the crippled Golden Crow clansmen identify the culprit.

“He is not here.” One of the cultivators who had come forward to receive them quietly informed him.

“What incredible airs.” The Ninth Prince said flatly. He then turned to his clansmen: “Go call him out. Today is the Old Wolf God’s birthday celebration — I have no desire to open a killing spree inside the manor and soak Heavenwolf Mountain in blood.”

Everyone was sobered by this — the Ninth Prince was extremely dominant and sharp; this was plainly a declaration of intent to kill, with no interest whatsoever in further discussion.

Some of the young women showed strange expressions. The Golden Crow clan was too powerful — no wonder certain sect masters had sent their heaven-blessed daughters into the clan in marriage alliances.

At the same time, people were quite startled: Ye Fan had calmly remained inside the manor the entire time, not coming out at all. Even when two princes arrived, he responded with total indifference.

Several of the crippled Golden Crow clansmen were gritting their teeth. What a change from when they had been chased away not long ago — they now walked with their heads high, cold smiles on their faces, striding back into the manor.

“You really have nerves of steel, Ye Fan — still sitting here drinking tea.”

When they re-entered the courtyard and once again saw Ye Fan, the hatred in their faces was evident. Their voices rose eight full tones as they shouted out loud.

“Our Ninth Prince has come! The Sixth Prince Lu Ya’s projection has also arrived! You have made yourself an enemy of the Golden Crow clan — you… heh, heh, heh!”

Ye Fan glanced at them. He uttered only a single word: “Get lost.” He waved his hand at them as though shooing away flies, not even deigning to look at them again.

“Our Ninth Prince demands that you go out and present yourself to him…” One of the Golden Crow clansmen opened his mouth, laughing coldly.

“Already forgotten the lesson from a moment ago?” Ye Fan’s head snapped up sharply, cutting off his words. A single great golden hand swept out — a burst of resounding slaps — and teeth from several mouths went flying, every one of them sent tumbling away.

The force was enormous; they shot clear over multiple courtyards and flew three hundred feet out, crashing down outside the manor itself, flopping and rolling like dead fish, exhaling more than they inhaled.

Before the Heavenwolf Mountain Manor, every onlooker was struck with shock. This was a total disregard for the Golden Crow Ninth Prince’s face — the men sent in to relay a message had been thrown out like dead dogs.

The Golden Crow Ninth Prince’s expression darkened. He said coldly: “Magnificent airs. Is he inviting me to come inside and begin the slaughter?”

“Your Highness, today is my master’s birthday celebration — I humbly request that you restrain your thunder-like fury.” Lang Tianye urged, naturally hoping to avoid any trouble.

“The Old Wolf God’s attainments approach the work of creation itself — I have no wish to ruin his birthday celebration. Yet this person does not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth, and conducts himself as he does. If I do not kill him, even the ancestors of the Golden Crow would reproach me.” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince said.

“What of it if you let today pass?” Lang Tianye said.

“You would still do better to have someone call him out. Tell him I wish to see him — hiding in the manor seeking shelter is useless.” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince said.

Shortly after, a disciple of the Heavenwolf Mountain Manor came to find Ye Fan, steeling himself to speak. Some of the cultivators there to offer birthday wishes had followed along; they all wanted to see whether Ye Fan would still be this bold.

“He wants me to come see him? Some Golden Crow Ninth Prince — never heard of him. If he wants to see me, he can come here himself!” Ye Fan refused outright.

Everyone was astonished — he had not even taken the Golden Crow Ninth Prince into account, declaring he had never heard of him. This was clearly an extremely dominant individual — there would inevitably be a confrontation.

“You…” one of the powerful Golden Crow clansmen who had followed inside heard this and paled.

“You what?” Ye Fan narrowed his eyes and said: “It is your clan that has grown accustomed to being dominant, is it not? Do you actually think yourself a great sage commanding all beneath heaven? If not — disappear from my sight immediately!”

This Golden Crow cultivator had come to probe the situation. Sensing that Ye Fan was extremely powerful, he said nothing more, turned, and left.

Bang!

The Golden Crow Ninth Prince received the news. He stomped a crack into the ground, then walked forward step by step into the Heavenwolf Mountain Manor, his expression ice-cold, golden energy coiling around his body.

When he was still some distance from the courtyard, he stopped. From his golden pupils flew two beams of divine radiance over a hundred feet long, plunging into the void.

“Ye Fan!”

“Is there something you need?” Ye Fan sat firmly in his stone chair, unmoved as a mountain, teacup in hand.

“Quite the airs. I came myself, and yet you are still like this.” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince’s expression was glacially cold as he stepped into the courtyard.

“You take yourself far too seriously. You expected me to go and present myself to you — just who do you think you are?” Ye Fan was utterly unruffled.

The Golden Crow Ninth Prince bore down with his gaze, a demonic power within his eyes — incomparably sharp and fierce. “I hope your strength matches your conduct,” he said, “otherwise I will be very disappointed.”

“Whether you are disappointed or not has nothing to do with me. Forget you — even if your father, the Golden Crow King himself, came, I would not go to pay my respects. Stop putting on your prince’s airs before me. I don’t know you.” Ye Fan was exceedingly dominant, meeting force with force.

The Golden Crow Ninth Prince’s pupils blazed with awe-inspiring intensity. He strode forward, pressing in, looking down from above, staring at Ye Fan from a height, murderous intent fully exposed.

All those watching were startled. Ye Fan was showing plainly that he had no fear of the Golden Crow clan whatsoever — two princes had arrived, and still he sat without even rising to his feet.

Just then, Lu Ya finally spoke for the first time. He reached out and grasped the Golden Crow Ninth Prince’s arm, stepped forward, and said: “I find myself admiring you somewhat now.”

“You admire me, and yet you came to help Yin Tiande kill me. He hasn’t even come out of seclusion himself — you seem quite eager on his behalf.” Ye Fan laughed coldly.

“At this moment, I find myself actually wanting to befriend you — and yet you killed Yin Tiande’s younger brother. What a pity.” Lu Ya shook his head.

“What business is it of yours that I killed his younger brother? Your Golden Crow clan thinks far too highly of yourselves — do you really imagine you can dominate everything?” Ye Fan said.

“Sixth brother, enough talk. He crippled our clansmen — he has already made himself an enemy of the Golden Crow clan. Send him on his way!” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince said with a cutting voice.

“All of you, please calm down — do not act today.” Lang Tianye said, his expression not looking well.

“Let us go outside and settle this — we need not ruin the Old Wolf God senior’s birthday celebration.” Lu Ya spoke in an even, unhurried manner.

“Come, then. Go outside and choose where you wish to be buried — a few feet of yellow earth will suffice.” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince said icily, a cold gleam flickering in his teeth.

“You are nothing more than a golden crow — do not mistake yourself for an ancient sage of remote antiquity.” A faint cold smile curved at Ye Fan’s lips.

In the present world, who would dare speak to the Golden Crow clan this way? Everyone was inwardly shaken, staring at Ye Fan — what on earth were the origins of this cultivator named Ye Fan?

Outside the Heavenwolf Mountain Manor, Ye Fan stood alone facing more than ten Golden Crow clansmen, his expression calm, without a trace of tension, standing apart on one side.

“Ninth Prince, avenge us — you must kill this ignorant and arrogant brat! Let the might of our Golden Crow clan ring out!” The several Golden Crow men whose cultivation Ye Fan had crippled were grinding their teeth, someone crying out.

“Very well — I’ll cripple him in turn, vent your anger, and then finish off his life!” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince declared.

Pfft — pfft…

Ye Fan spread his five fingers wide, shooting out several beams of golden light that pierced through the foreheads of those men right in front of the Golden Crow princes — killing them on the spot.

“You… what audacity!” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince bellowed.

The onlookers were stunned. This was a blatant slap to the face — right before the Ninth Prince’s eyes, he had killed those Golden Crow clansmen outright, as though striking the prince’s own cheek.

“The Golden Crow clan has produced ten princes, each one gifted with heaven-granted genius, shaking the world — we are finally about to see them act.”

The Heavenwolf Howling Moon Platform was a massive broken mountain — it appeared as though a great axe had cleaved it clean through the middle. The severed face was broad and flat, reinforced with Daoist inscriptions: an ancient battlefield for the testing of martial arts, preserved from a remote age.

“You do not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. You have made yourself an enemy of the Golden Crow clan — I shall give you a three-foot pit in the earth to bury your broken body.”

The Golden Crow Ninth Prince heaped scorn and humiliation upon him, opening with a palm strike toward Ye Fan’s right cheek — relying on the Golden Crow’s innately supreme speed and terrifying physical power to slap him across the face.

Clap!

Ye Fan met him with a great golden palm, producing a resounding crack. Golden blood sprayed outward, and the Golden Crow Ninth Prince’s right palm shattered into pieces.

He let out a long cry, the severed palm regenerating instantly. He transformed into a streak of golden light and charged away, leaving behind a spray of golden blood.

People were astonished. How incomparably powerful the Golden Crow clan’s physical bodies were — and yet within a single exchange, he had already taken a serious loss. How terrifyingly formidable must this person’s physique be?

The battle between the Golden Crow Ninth Prince and Ye Fan erupted in full force — right from the outset it blazed into white-hot intensity. The scene was extraordinary: vital energy piercing the sky like a rainbow, sun and moon alike robbed of their light.

True solar fire consumed the heavens, pulling down the essence of the sun itself, pouring down an endless torrent of holy golden fire that transformed into a boundless sea of flames, overwhelming all of heaven and earth.

The Golden Crow Ninth Prince no longer dared engage in a physical clash; stepping back from close-quarters combat, he sought to suppress Ye Fan with pure magical power.

Yet Ye Fan was entirely unafraid. He unleashed a strand of black sacred power — thread by thread — extinguishing all the true solar fire, the temperature plummeting.

Supreme Yin Sacred Power!

This was the supreme Yin sacred power he had produced while cultivating the ancient scriptures of the Supreme Yin and Supreme Yang — a power of absolute Yin, immense in divine ability, capable of extinguishing true solar fire.

Suddenly, a blinding surge of golden radiance flew out: eighty-one golden great banners snapping in the wind, forged from brilliant sacred gold, with even their banner faces in gold — each one embroidered with the divine bird, the Golden Crow. Arranged through the void, they enclosed Ye Fan within.

“Lu Ya’s Golden Crow Great Banners!” The crowd was shocked — this was a bloodstained legend.

Long ago, Lu Ya had used these eighty-one golden great banners to simultaneously trap five of the most supreme sect masters, refining all of them within and slaying them, their blood staining the vast sky red.

Today, he had passed the banners to the Golden Crow Ninth Prince, who had deployed them in the midst of the duel, sealing Ye Fan inside in an instant.

At this, many inwardly sighed. These were the Golden Crow clan’s treasure banners — they simply could not be broken. Within them lay the Golden Crow divine formation, and no matter how powerful Ye Fan was, could he surpass five supreme sect masters? He was surely doomed.

“You dare make yourself an enemy of my Golden Crow clan with just this?” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince clasped his hands behind his back, standing outside the banner formation, his golden hair flying, smiling coldly again and again.

Trapped within the Golden Crow divine formation, even a living fossil could not escape — of course he was contemptuous and dismissive, already regarding Ye Fan as a dead man.

Yet things are often surprising. Ye Fan trod the Word of Travel underfoot, moving as though through open, unguarded territory — breaking out with almost no delay at all.

Once the Word of Travel reached completion, one could go anywhere — to the highest heavens above, to the nine abysses below. Nothing could stop him. Ye Fan had once observed the young madman’s use of this technique, touching upon the realm of time itself, and had been greatly enlightened, his understanding deepening considerably.

Boom!

Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist!

The Sacred Physique unleashed — energy swallowing mountains and rivers, advancing without resistance. Under heaven and above, no equal could be found.

This fist art was practically created for Ye Fan — as though possessing the power to open the Six Paths, unmatched in all the world, its wild force shattering the heavens.

The Golden Crow Ninth Prince transformed into a streak of golden light to evade, but still let out a great cry — half his body was blasted away, golden blood spraying outward. His shattered form went flying, a miserable sight.

The crowd was thunderstruck. Everyone was nearly dazed. This was one of the Golden Crow ten princes — capable of slaying a Sacred Master, his name reverberating throughout the world — and he had fallen to this condition.

At that moment, everyone was jarred awake: they realized they had severely underestimated this cultivator of unknown origins. The man called Ye Fan, in this single battle today, was destined to shake all of Lu Province.

Only a few sect masters from Tianyuan City knew his true exceptional status — they knew that Ye Fan and the Old Madman were old acquaintances, yet had not spoken of it until now.

“Ahh…” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince let out a furious roar, unable to accept this outcome. The Golden Crow treasure banner formation had failed to stop the enemy — who had passed through it as easily as an uninhabited place — this was simply inconceivable.

Ye Fan shot into the sky, the Word of Travel without peer, chasing him down. He was on the verge of catching the Golden Crow Ninth Prince, his fist raised and ready to deliver another blow.

Lu Ya finally acted. Though only a projection, he could still manifest great divine powers; he brought forth a golden ancestral crow feather, thrust it forward with a single surge, and snatched the Ninth Prince away.

“Sixth brother, why are you fleeing? Among the younger generation — apart from Yin Tiande — you are unrivaled under heaven. In a single day you slew five great sect masters. Who can stand against you? Finish him!” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince shouted.

“My true body has not come — this projection is less than twenty percent of my full power. Let us leave here first.” Lu Ya said. That the Golden Crow treasure banners had failed to trap and slay the enemy was beyond even his expectations.

“I won’t accept this — we are actually fleeing in defeat!” The Golden Crow Ninth Prince was choked with fury, spitting up great mouthfuls of blood.

Ye Fan stood in the void and did not pursue. He took out a precious bow, a cold smile hanging at the corner of his mouth, and began to draw it — like the shape of a full moon. It was none other than the Ten Thousand Calamities Bow!

All were struck with awe, every pair of eyes fixed upon the sky.