Ye Fan’s hair stood on end with fury, his body surging with golden blood energy, arriving in an instant. Seen from afar, it was a vast expanse, like an ocean engulfing everything in its path.

“Who are you?!” The jaw of the Northern Plains Wang Family’s Old Seventeen had just been slapped off by Ye Fan, shattering in the sky. Now, in unbearable pain, he demanded through his spiritual sense.

Ye Fan hated this group of people to the bone. Had he arrived even a moment later, this village would no longer exist—young and old alike, even wailing infants, would have been bathed in blood. His anger burned like fire.

“Slap!”

Without another word, he swung another slap down, this time shattering Old Seventeen’s upper jaw as well, the agonizing pain making him howl “ahh, ahh” without stop, like a wounded beast.

This time it was the Northern Plains Wang Family’s Old Seventeen who was humiliated—just as he had shown contempt for the villagers, the newcomer showed the same contempt for him, striking him with big slaps to the face without a word.

“Ahh…” Though his jaw had been slapped off, his throat remained intact, and he let out a low, tormented roar of shock and pain, his expression twisted almost beyond recognition. Having been in seclusion for over a decade, he had never before laid eyes on Ye Fan, and having emerged with his powers fully realized, he had not expected to suffer such humiliation.

“Old Seventeen!” In the distance, the Wang Family’s Thirteenth Elder cried out in alarm, piloting a mountain-like warship as he rushed over, weaving array patterns like a heavenly net pressing down on Ye Fan, unleashing a swath of divine light with the momentum to overturn heaven and earth.

Ye Fan gripped the Wang Family’s Old Seventeen by the neck with one hand, like grabbing a puppy by the scruff, and stepped forward to meet the warship head-on. His body, wreathed in golden blood energy that blanketed the sky, swung his other giant golden hand like a millstone, smashing down.

“Crack!”

The sound of shattering rang through the sky.

A single hand covering the heavens!

Like an ancient demon breaking free from beneath the wild earth after ten thousand years, killing intent soaring to the heavens, that enormous palm slammed heavily onto the warship, its hull shattering into pieces that scattered in every direction amid a torrent of light.

It was not that the warship lacked sturdiness, nor that the divine patterns carved into it lacked profundity—it was simply that this hand was too terrifying, as though a divine hand descended from beyond the world, radiant with immortal glory, crushing everything in the present age.

“Ahh…” The Wang Family’s Thirteenth Elder fought desperately, spitting out from his mouth a delicate pagoda barely an inch tall, forged from purple bronze, which unfurled against the wind into a form several hundred feet tall, pressing forward to suppress the attack.

“Boom!”

Still it could not stop it. Ye Fan’s palm fell, and that purple bronze pagoda crumbled like a sandcastle, utterly unable to withstand it, turning into scrap metal that fell from the great height.

The Wang Family’s Thirteenth Elder roared and successively produced thirty-six weapons—a Heavenly Net Umbrella, a Sun-Illuminating Mirror, flying swords, a Soul-Capturing Bell, and more—each possessing formidable divine power, but all to no avail.

Beneath that giant golden hand, these weapons were no different from paper, crumbling one after another. The Wang Family’s Old Thirteen felt his gall turn to ice, none of the spirited confidence he had shown before the village remaining, now fleeing in a panic like a homeless dog.

When Ye Fan’s giant hand reached out to grab him, he unleashed one hundred and eight consecutive palm strikes, each one collapsing the void itself, but in the end his arms were both shattered.

“Boom!”

Ye Fan’s giant hand closed, grasping him firmly in his palm, instantly crushing his bones and tendons, streams of blood seeping out from between the massive fingers.

“Ahh…” The Wang Family’s Old Thirteen screamed in agony.

Everyone present felt a chill, goosebumps rising across their skin—this was a formidable figure, yet he was being crushed to near-death just like that.

Ye Fan held one figure in each hand, gripping the two great figures of the Northern Plains Wang Family as though nothing at all, like clutching two stray cats and dogs, nearly strangling them to death.

“This…”

The Wang Family’s people felt chills run from head to toe—such a demonic king suddenly appearing, as though entering a realm with no one to oppose him, the two great figures reduced to dead dogs in his hands.

Below, the men, women, young and old of the ancient village all had tears brimming in their eyes, deeply moved. Today they had faced great disaster, suffered humiliation, and now someone had stepped forward, resolving their deadly crisis, venting their pent-up fury.

“He is…”

On another warship, someone stared fixedly at Ye Fan, showing an expression of shock, hardly believing his own eyes.

Not everyone had been in seclusion for many years like Old Seventeen and Old Thirteen of the Wang Family. Twelve years ago, some had personally participated in the hunt against Ye Fan.

Especially in that final battle at the Ji Family, when Wang Teng died tragically and the clan suffered a great defeat—some had been present in person. Even if Ye Fan had turned to ash, they would never have forgotten; they could still recognize him, an image etched into their bones.

“It’s him… it’s really him!” Those who had taken part in that battle years ago were utterly astonished, hardly able to believe this, their bodies turning cold.

“It’s him—he’s actually come back. How is this possible?!” Even one of the Wang Family’s formidable figures showed shock written all over his face, involuntarily stumbling backward.

“Retreat quickly, everyone fall back, break out at once, rush out to tell the clan—the Sacred Body has returned!” a formidable figure aboard a golden warship gave the order to retreat.

He had sensed Ye Fan’s power—undoubtedly a figure at the eighth minor step of the second heavenly tier of the Immortal Platform. This was enough to terrify anyone!

For once the Sacred Body reached this realm, no formidable figure, no sect leader, could withstand it any longer, unless it was one of those truly astonishing prodigies possessing Seven Seals or Eight Seals, who might barely manage to contend.

However, just as this supreme figure of the Wang Family issued his command, Ye Fan let out a low shout, suppressing his voice entirely.

“OM!”

Like the very first sound at the dawn of the universe, it pierced through heaven and earth, illuminated the primordial source of all things, and cut through past, present, and future. A divine demon manifested behind him, standing there, identical to himself, its presence suppressing all of heaven and earth.

Long ago, when Ye Fan had been trapped within the Sea’s Eye, he had attempted to cultivate every technique in the world, and naturally had not overlooked the Six-Syllable True Mantra of Buddhism.

Behind him, that divine demon stood independently, chanting alongside him, like an ancient chant carried down from primordial times, and one could clearly see the golden sound waves sweeping across all directions.

Not manifesting Buddha, holding only himself supreme in his heart—this was the unshakable, iron-like conviction of one seeking to prove the Dao!

The six-syllable ancient Buddhist chant held the power to split open heaven and earth, its mysteries boundless, containing the great power, great wisdom, and great compassion of the universe. Cultivated to its highest attainment, it could subdue every deity of the heavens.

Wherever the sound wave passed, the dense figures filling the sky fell like dumplings dropped into boiling water, crackling and popping, falling from the great height in clusters.

Every single person had their body cracked open, their Origin Spirit shattered by Ye Fan’s chant, their form and spirit both destroyed—this was the power of the true mantra that Ye Fan had cultivated through the Dou character formula of the Nine Mysteries, granting it an entirely new divine power.

This single strand of divine sound was boundlessly vast, the entire sky resonating with it, as though returning to the primordial age of heaven and earth’s very beginning, everything possessing an unfathomable, mysterious power.

“BOOM!”

Dozens of ancient war chariots split apart one after another, banner after banner shattered, countless figures, dense cultivators beyond counting, turned to dust, ceasing to exist.

This was the power of Ye Fan’s single roar—the entire mountain range was collapsing, only the ancient village remaining unscathed, while everything else was annihilated.

Far in the distance sky, all those watching the battle had long since retreated hundreds of miles, not a single one daring to observe closely, fearing being swept up in it.

“Retreat quickly, the Sacred Body has returned!” The Wang Family’s supreme figure roared desperately, trying to spread the news, but under the sound of “OM” his voice was suppressed to no more than the faint buzz of a mosquito.

Ye Fan’s single chant shattered mountains and rivers. When everything settled, the sky was scattered with wreckage—banners, war chariots, the countless powerful figures who had filled the heavens, hardly any remained, all reduced to fine dust.

Not long before, dark clouds had churned, war drums had split the heavens, banners had fluttered, as though a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers had descended—but now all was desolate and still, the invaders cut down like wheat harvested in swaths, hardly any remaining, even several warships bearing massive cracks.

The Northern Plains Wang Family’s people had faces as gray as death—all of this had been accomplished by a single person. Especially seeing Old Seventeen and Old Thirteen now hanging like dead dogs in his hands, they felt overwhelmed with defeat, trembling with fear.

At this moment, they could not even flee—divine source blocks sealed all eight directions, an Origin Heavenly Array turning this place into a cage.

“Splat!”

At this moment, Ye Fan did something that chilled the hearts of every Wang Family member present—he tossed Old Seventeen and Old Thirteen into midair and stomped them each underfoot, crushing them alive into two masses of bloody pulp.

These two formidable figures, so arrogant just moments before, dismissing the village with contempt, treating them as uncivilized primitives—now had died so pathetically, stamped into a bloody paste beneath another’s foot.

Moreover, Ye Fan showed not the slightest concern, as though he had simply stepped on two blades of grass, not giving it a second thought.

The Wang Family’s people burned with fury—these were two formidable figures, yet treated with such contempt, dying without a shred of dignity.

Just moments ago, they themselves had treated the villagers this very way, showing contempt, refusing further discussion—yet in the blink of an eye, everything had been visited back upon themselves.

The Wang Family’s people all turned pale, many of the younger ones trembling, having now realized just what manner of figure stood before them, filled with boundless dread.

Though many years had passed, Ye Fan’s deeds of old had not been forgotten—the bloody battle in the Eastern Wastes, roaming freely across the Central Continent, slaying Sage Sons, cutting down Sage Daughters, killing formidable figures, battling sect leaders, entering the ancient forbidden ground alone to preserve his life, even contending against supreme imperial weapons.

So many years had passed—just how powerful had this demon-king-like existence become? The younger generation of the Wang Family trembled at the thought.

On the five battered warships, five formidable figures stood, each a powerful being of the Wang Family, yet now they too felt deeply unsettled, wishing desperately to flee at once.

“Brother Ye, you really aren’t being fair—look, you’ve already dealt with most of them. I was saying this would be my battle to make my name, to spread the fame of my Human Desire tradition across the world, yet you’ve stolen my thunder. Leave the rest to us.” Li Tian said with a mischievous look.

The Wang Family’s people were furious—who had ever dared look down on them like this? Yet now they had been humiliated again and again, leaving everyone trembling.

“Today, what needs doing is to kill them all.” Ye Fan said calmly.

“Crack!”

He struck again, descending from the sky to shatter a massive warship with a single kick, punching forward as ancient treasures, flying swords, and more shattered before him, countless people turning into mist of blood, all slaughtered.

“What a pity, my chance to make a name for myself—next time I won’t miss it.” Li Tian struck as well.

Yan Yixi too moved, her white robes fluttering as she walked like a banished immortal, yet each strike brought forth great blossoms of blood—this was a sky stained crimson.

Half an hour later, everything settled. The mountain ridge was littered with devastation, blood everywhere, broken branches and withered leaves scattered all around. Every last invader from the Wang Family had been exterminated.

“Thank you, young hero.” The village’s Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Granduncles came forward to offer their gratitude.

The other villagers gathered around as well, expressing their heartfelt thanks over and over—these were simple, honest people, and some of the young children even tugged at Ye Fan’s sleeve, gazing at him with curiosity.

“Dongfang Ye is an old friend of mine…” Ye Fan did not hide the truth.

The village elders were momentarily stunned, then let out a long sigh—they had already heard the news of Dongfang Ye’s death, drenched in blood in the Eastern Wastes.

“I don’t believe my boy Ye’er is dead. He was extraordinarily gifted, his strength overpowering the world, raised on wild dragon meat and fierce tiger flesh—his life is tough. He must still be alive.” one old man said.

“Without his body, we cannot confirm he is dead. I will go and find him.” Ye Fan said.

…

Has the Sacred Body returned?

That day, this news spread throughout Nanling: after twelve years, Ye Fan had reappeared!

Some said they had personally witnessed the Sacred Body’s battle—though they had not dared approach, that scene could only have been him.

However, not many believed it. Someone who had crossed entire star regions and vanished for twelve years surely could not simply reappear, could not possibly return.

“The Wang Family has gone too far. Since their clan head happens to be in Nanling as a guest at the Demon Sovereign Hall, then he need not bother going back—this time, if there’s to be a fight, let it be a fight that shakes the very heavens!” Ye Fan stood in the mountain forest, gazing into the distance.