This was no ordinary king-grade divine weapon. It had been refined from the skull of an ancient sage—crystalline as jet-black jade, terrifying beyond measure.

Were it not for special circumstances, it would long since have become a legendary sacred weapon. But even as it was, it was only one step short—and within it was harbored undying, immortal divine nature!

Through its seven cavities, a sage’s aura radiated and pressed down from the heights of the sky. The seven openings roiled and billowed like beacon fire smoke, the spectacle deeply alarming.

To this day, even with Ye Fan’s incomparably powerful physical body, he dared not receive this weapon directly. This was a sage’s skull—only one step from ascending—and whoever met it head-on was guaranteed to die.

“Eternal Exile!”

Ye Fan used the Combat Secret to simulate Wang Teng’s secret technique, combined with the Ji family’s Great Void Technique, performing a true and elaborate manifestation.

He forcibly tore open a dimensional gateway to meet the ancient sage’s skull—engulfing it with a thunderous roar, then firmly sealing shut.

“What?!”

Cries of shock came from the distant sky. This weapon—believed the moment it appeared to have already reversed the tide of battle—had been dealt with just like that? Everyone held their breath.

A soft pop rang out—not very loud—but the entire sky was torn apart. The skull flew back, breaking through that dimensional void and returning. Nothing could obstruct it.

Ye Fan performed the Movement Secret, vanishing from where he stood. With a bang, that stretch of void became a great black rift, pierced through by the skull.

At the same time, a force like a galaxy cascading down from the nine heavens poured out, affecting the entire Northern Sea, sending an endless expanse of ocean into a tsunami—thousands of li of destruction and collapse.

This was the ancient sage’s skull. Once it moved, its divine power was boundless and vast, beyond all resistance.

Ye Fan did not clash with it directly. His eyes flashed with sharp light. He intended to carry out a decapitation strike. So long as he killed the Divine Son of Extreme Yin, the skull’s threat would naturally disappear.

However, accomplishing all of this was extremely difficult. He could not possibly move in silence to reach and kill him unseen.

Clang!

The Diamond Ring was an extraordinary divine object. It clashed violently with that ominous demonic bell. Black bell waves—carrying all manner of negative emotions—invaded people’s divine souls.

Swish swish swish!

The Supreme Yin great banner was also unfurling, pressing down like an ancient universe—but had been blocked by the Profound Magnetic Mountain. The two were locked in a standoff.

These clashes of divine weapons were also bound up with victory, defeat, and life and death. Each one contained boundless killing intent.

What surprised Ye Fan most was that the Golden Crow clan’s precious banners had not been destroyed. Although their divine power had been absolutely suppressed by the nine netherworld bamboos, they had refused to break throughout.

“That’s right—those were a great instrument of the Golden Crow clan from years past, but they were contaminated. Their grade fell, and their former might was never recovered.” Someone was surprised, recognizing the origin of the eighty-one great golden banners.

Boom!

The black skull attacked again. Ye Fan did not resist—each time he only briefly made contact before vanishing, evading this weapon and seeking an opening.

And at this point, the other weapons had finally reached their conclusions. The Profound Magnetic Mountain—truly a piece of raw uncut jade with enormous potential for growth—pinned down the black great banner and pierced through it.

The Profound Magnetic Mountain shot up, sweeping out a sky full of radiance. If it could be refined to a sufficiently high grade, it could render useless any weapon of refined gold.

At this moment, it could not destroy the black Sovereign’s Demonic Bell—but it created interference, causing the bell to operate sluggishly and greatly reducing even the power of its black bell waves.

Clang!

When one falls, another rises. The Diamond Ring was unaffected and expanded to the size of a millstone—like a full moon—crashing down.

This was a king-grade divine weapon’s great clash. The void immediately collapsed. Hundreds and thousands of great black rifts appeared and spread out for an unknown number of li.

Their collision caused this domain of heaven and earth to rapidly sink—as though approaching the end of the world—where nothing would exist anymore.

A final toll of the bell rang out. The black demonic bell cracked apart. Its wall shattered into hundreds of pieces, flying in all directions.

Every fragment pierced out a void black hole, destroying everything in its path. The ocean below was evaporated in an instant!

In the end, the Sovereign’s Demonic Bell was no more. Vast distant ocean waters came rushing in, filling the dried seafloor and becoming a vast expanse of water once more.

All of this happened very quickly. A king-grade divine weapon had been destroyed. The stunned crowd in the distance felt that the Diamond Ring was too terrifying. Wielding this weapon, one could destroy an ancient sect.

Boom!

On the other side, the eighty-one great golden banners suddenly ignited. However extraordinary their material, they ultimately could not hold against the nine netherworld bamboos.

“Do you all sense it? That is a sage’s presence!”

Someone cried out in alarm. The nine netherworld bamboos had finally destroyed the great golden banners and—like people—charged out, transforming into nine black shadows rushing forward. Each one radiated a trace of killing intent.

“Correct—grown in the netherworld earth, nourished by the death-corpse aura of an ancient sage, then infused with Supreme Yin Holy Power—that is how such demonic bamboos were cultivated!”

In the distant sky, everyone changed color. No one had imagined that the Supreme Yin Holy Cult would dare do such a thing. This could breed a monstrous evil—a great calamity that would eventually be turned against themselves.

Nine netherworld bamboos—like several wizened old figures, their bodies glittering black-crystal—arranged side by side in the void, simultaneously vibrating downward to emit nine dark beams of light, shooting down to kill.

“A trace of a sage’s presence!”

Ye Fan’s eyes turned cold. These nine netherworld bamboos were truly heaven-defying—but fortunately had not yet grown to full magnitude. Otherwise, even those who had passed the three cuts of the Immortal realm would have no recourse.

He drove the Diamond Ring forward to meet them. Within the millstone-sized steel ring, an abyss formed that absorbed the nine dark beams of light.

Flash!

But the nine netherworld bamboos were unaffected. Having already given birth to evil spirits—possessed of self-directed consciousness—they spread apart and charged toward Ye Fan.

They were not much less threatening than the skull. Contaminated with a sage’s death aura, once striking an opponent, it would truly be fatal. Surviving would be nearly impossible.

Boom!

The black skull underwent a change. The aura of the ancient sage grew ever denser. Within two of its eye sockets, a terrifying radiance actually lit up. The spiritual patterns densely covering it were moving.

At this moment, its divine power had grown by an immeasurable factor compared to moments before—prompting cries of alarm from those watching in the distance.

“Only one step short—it would become an ancient sacred weapon!”

“This one weapon alone is enough to reverse the tide of battle. If the Ye-surnamed youth has no other recourse, he will most likely be consumed by hatred here.”

The beams of light within the skull’s eye sockets grew ever brighter—supremely terrifying. This was the “divine spirit” harbored within it—long since awakened in spirit, now reviving and manifesting. It would become terrifying to the extreme.

Boom!

In that moment, from the crown of the skull, light blazed like fire—and then suddenly a ten-thousand-zhang ray of divine light shot through the vault of heaven.

“Terrible—the divine spirit harbored within the skull has awakened. The Ye-surnamed youth is beyond saving now.”

Someone sighed to themselves in lamentation for Ye Fan. Something only one step from becoming a legendary sacred weapon was absolutely invincible.

In the distance, the Divine Son of Extreme Yin’s face went pale. He was weak—a tremendous amount of his divine soul energy had been consumed—but all of this had been worth it.

So long as he could wield the ancient sage’s skull like an extension of his own arm, he had absolute confidence in striking Ye Fan down. Nothing could withstand it.

At this moment the situation was critical beyond measure. The ancient sage’s skull was suppressing downward. The nine netherworld bamboos—like living beings—were also diving down, all of them carrying a sage’s aura.

Ye Fan erected his phenomenon. All manner of divine lights flew outward. The many ancient and terrifying phenomena were linked together—as though in the act of creation—resembling a world of primordial chaos.

In addition, the golden Sacred Domain also manifested, becoming an eternal holy light enclosing and protecting him within. This was his invincible domain.

“That is…”

The crowd was astonished to discover that the sacred body’s phenomenon was truly formidable. Facing the skull, it had greatly slowed the speed of its descent.

A terrifying phenomenon!

To dare contend with a sage’s presence—had anyone else attempted to block it with a phenomenon, they would certainly have been reduced to fine powder long ago. Nothing would remain of them.

“It’s useless. How many breaths can you block the skull? Five at most—and you will be permanently erased from this world!” The Divine Son of Extreme Yin said coldly and ruthlessly.

At this moment, he had sufficient reason to believe he had become the victor. The sacred body would inevitably perish—without any remaining hope of survival.

“Your divine soul power is nearly depleted. I only need one breath—that is sufficient!” Ye Fan said in a firm, low voice.

Hum!

In that moment, he activated the Combat Secret—in the span of an instant, interfering with the skull and causing it to vibrate violently.

“What?!” The Divine Son of Extreme Yin was horrified.

During the previous clash of weapons, Ye Fan had not deployed the Combat Secret. He had been waiting for the optimal moment to strike. That critical moment had now arrived.

Now, his physical body condensed into a golden Tai Chi—incomparably brilliant, illuminating the heavens—and then rapidly evolved. Profoundly abstruse, without limit, ascending to the extreme of sublimation.

Swish!

An eternal light flew out from his brow. A golden small figure—identical to him—cradling a small cauldron, faster than lightning, struck toward the Divine Son of Extreme Yin.

From nothingness, the Tai Chi is born. From the beginning of heaven and earth, the ten thousand things take form—this is the Dao.

Ye Fan had used his physical body to manifest the Tai Chi, contemplating the Dao for many years. He now underwent an inverse transformation, reversing and returning, ascending to the extreme of sublimation, producing the infinite transformation.

The physical body as the Golden Tai Chi—all manner of profound mystery, the extreme of change—the divine soul cradling the cauldron burst outward, undergoing inverse transformation into the limitless—a divine transformation that could only be described as miraculous!

In that moment, time and space froze. All of this was still. Heaven, earth, and all things—like a painted scroll—utterly motionless.

What was eternity, what was a single instant—they could not be distinguished. Heaven and earth were silent. Only a divine soul cradling a cauldron moved through the air.

In that moment, the small golden figure was brilliance ten thousand zhang high, illuminating the entire Northern Sea, cleaving through past, present, and future!

Within his embrace, the Myriad Things Mother Cauldron was only one cun tall—yet it seemed capable of toppling all eternity, from which ten thousand streams of mother energy descended. It was the incarnation of the Dao.

The Divine Soul Unites with the Dao!

Ye Fan had spent more than four years in the sea eye—that place of exile for sinners by the ancient great emperor—contemplating the Dao. This was one of his greatest fruits of cultivation: ascending to the extreme, changing without limit, performed for the very first time.

This was a brilliant eternal light—forever branded into people’s hearts. Even as many years passed, it would not be forgotten.

The small golden figure, cradling the one-cun Myriad Things Mother Cauldron, came descending and was branded upon the crown of the Divine Son of Extreme Yin’s skull.

Like a divine being descending to the world. Endless light, boundless radiance—transforming into immeasurable Dao—one single strike as though capable of emptying all of eternity.

The divine soul and the cauldron united as one. They shot out undying, immortal divine radiance illuminating all things. The four seas grew bright. He had become the sole existence between heaven and earth.

Pop!

A faint sound—like the first note of Dao sounded at the beginning of creation. The Divine Son of Extreme Yin was struck into ash with a single blow, scattered by the wind, no longer in existence.