Even in its damaged state, and though it was not forged from the legendary divine materials of a world-spanning ancient weapon, the divine power of the ancient holy weapon was still beyond imagination. Entire ranges of mountains collapsed, and the vast wilderness trembled.

In the distance, every bird and beast cowered in terror, prostrating themselves upon the ground and kowtowing in that direction. The heavens and earth fell silent. Only here did a single violet-gold hammer hang suspended in the void — and with one tremor, it seemed as though the ten thousand worlds were about to shatter.

Beyond all words, a terrifying aura of absolute dominance — in that moment, nothing could withstand it. The violet waves it unleashed caused mountains to crumble upon contact, lakes to run dry, valleys to cave in.

Heaven and earth obliterated. All things reduced to nothing!

“Those wretched bastards have come again — destroying our homeland, annihilating our village! They truly intend to wipe us out to the last! I swear an irreconcilable blood feud with them!”

In a stretch of mountain terrain in the distance, several barbarian elders witnessed this scene. Every one of them bristled with fury, their hair and beards standing on end. They had not yet launched their counterattack on the Northern Plains, and yet the enemy had come to their doorstep again. If they had not already relocated, they would have been massacred.

The violet waves spread outward, and the heavens and earth grew still. Everything had been destroyed — ancient villages, mountain ranges, all disintegrated in the aftershocks.

When everything calmed, the mountains at the forefront vanished without a sound. A gentle wind blew through, and they collapsed like structures made of paper, dissolving into drifting ash.

Such was the power of this single damaged holy weapon — one that could not remotely compare to a world-spanning ancient treasure — and yet it possessed such might!

Before the Wang Family members, a violet-gold hammer the size of a human head hung suspended. Violet energy billowed from it, radiant with brilliant hues. Originally, it had been exquisitely crafted, but now a third of it was missing, sunken inward as though crushed.

Wang Chengtian’s eyes were filled with cold ruthlessness. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, aloof and imperious — the picture of a transcendent master of the world beyond.

Yet in an instant, his expression froze. His gaze stalled. Then he staggered backward more than ten great steps, his face solidifying in shock.

Behind him, the other Wang Family members were equally stupefied — and then overcome with utter disbelief, every face bearing an expression of pure incredulity.

For there before them, three figures stepped out from the dissipating violet ripples completely unharmed, every face calm and composed, utterly unafraid.

One of them spoke with a face full of contempt: “You dare call that broken hammer a holy weapon? Bring it to me — Divine Son Li Tian — and I’ll use it to grind medicine.”

Wang Chengtian and his companions were utterly stunned. They knew they were in serious trouble. What had happened far exceeded anything they had anticipated. Today, most likely, great disaster had come for them.

In Ye Fan’s right palm rested a bronze furnace the size of a fist — beautiful and dazzling, crystalline and translucent. The bronze material possessed a spiritual quality, lustrous and radiant, shimmering with light.

The soft luminous mist it emitted enveloped the three of them within its protection. Wisps of a sage’s divine authority seeped outward, overawing the souls of all who beheld it — incomparable.

“A flawless world-spanning holy weapon!” The Wang Family members went cold from head to toe. Such a thing was entirely beyond their ordinary reach — a supreme treasure left behind in this world by a great sage, an object enshrined within their clan. Even catching a distant glimpse of their own family’s holy weapon was a rare privilege.

Wang Chengtian felt a chill run through his entire body. For the first time, he felt death drawing so close. Facing such a weapon, even if he had come with dozens more allies, all of them would die.

His elder brother had once competed with Wang Chengkun for the position of family patriarch. In terms of raw power, he had far surpassed him. Their generation in the Wang Family were known as the illustrious twin heroes — no one could match them.

And yet, their strength could not outweigh the breathtaking talent of one young child. The young Wang Teng had been favored by the Elder Ancestor, who had secured the position of family head for the boy’s father.

Now, with Wang Chengkun slain, his elder brother had become the most powerful contender for patriarch. Their faction had procured the violet-gold hammer for him, so that he might wield a holy weapon’s might to slay the Holy Physique, wash away the Wang Family’s shame, bolster their faction’s authority, and add to his elder brother’s ascension.

But this was the result that had come to pass. The enemy possessed a world-spanning holy weapon. Wang Chengtian felt as though he had plunged into an abyss of ice.

“You really have the nerve to tell us to kneel down and die,” Li Tian said with a cold laugh.

“Don’t kill us…” Behind Wang Chengtian, someone was trembling beneath the divine power of the holy weapon. No one is truly unafraid of death — it is only the degree to which one can endure that fear which differs.

Hum!

The void quivered. A flash of light burst from Ye Fan’s hand. The Goddess Furnace shot forth a stream of radiant mist — brilliant and beautiful — pinning the violet-gold hammer in place on the spot, then drawing it back.

He held it in hand and stroked it gently. Using the Goddess Furnace, he erased every last divine sense imprint within it, then examined it carefully.

“A pity. It is a damaged piece — the interior has sustained severe damage.”

Not only were the weapon’s materials inferior, but it had been depleted far beyond its limits. The divine flame harbored within had drawn on its final reserves of vitality and was on the verge of extinguishing. Without that, it could never have been suppressed — nor could it have been taken.

Yan Yixi said, “It collapsed quite thoroughly. We were able to use the Goddess Furnace to suppress it — otherwise, there truly would have been no way to subdue the divine spirit of a holy weapon. Still, there is a downside: doing so has caused it to deteriorate even further. It can only be used a few more times.”

“No matter,” Ye Fan said. “It is still better than being unusable.”

Holy weapons were terrifying things. The divine spirit within had to be fully subjugated before use — otherwise, it could turn against its wielder at any moment and kill them. This was precisely why powerful forces did not fear having their world-spanning weapons stolen. There was always a strong chance of reclaiming them, and enemies who took them would find them nearly impossible to use.

“Rotten little vermin — today I’ve suffered a loss!” Wang Chengtian watched the holy weapon change hands entirely. Though it was damaged, it was still a great loss to the family. The resentment he felt inside could well be imagined.

“Go to hell — still talking tough at a time like this? In a moment I’ll beat you until you can’t move!” Li Tian said. He took the Goddess Furnace and swept out a beam of divine light on the spot.

Wang Chengtian was sent flying backward. Bones, tendons, and meridians cracked and snapped throughout his body in rapid succession. His Sea of Wheels shattered. His Dao Palace collapsed. His Immortal Platform bled. He was crippled on the spot — every last bit of his cultivation destroyed.

“You…” Wang Chengtian trembled all over, his heart utterly desolate. He had spent a lifetime of bitter cultivation, but today it had ended completely.

“You what?!” Li Tian backhanded him across the face and sent him crashing into the ground.

“Don’t kill us — we’ll agree to any condition.” The others were so terrified their souls were nearly scared out of them. They fell to their knees, bodies shaking uncontrollably.

“I have many questions I’d like to ask you.” Ye Fan smiled. He was about to launch his assault on the Northern Plains — the more deeply he understood this clan, the better.

“You animals…” Wang Chengtian was cursing not only his own clansmen, but Ye Fan and the others as well. He still wanted to continue shouting abuse and hurling curses.

Bang!

Ye Fan descended from above, stomping downward with one foot and driving half of Wang Chengtian’s face into the mud. No more words from him. Then, as though kicking aside a dead dog, he sent him tumbling into the distance.

Before long, Ye Fan had extracted a great deal of valuable information from the group. In the end, he hauled them into the barbarian tribe’s settlement and handed them over for continued interrogation.

The tribe’s people despised them to the core and would show no gentleness. They came close to flaying Wang Chengtian alive, beating him savagely with heavy clubs until, before long, he was nearly pounded to pieces.

Before departing, Ye Fan erased all traces of the battlefield. He did not want to leave behind the aura of an ancient holy weapon — it was not yet time to reveal it.

Not long after, the people who had completed the construction of the teleportation formation platform arrived from Phoenix City, but they were all disappointed. The battle had long since concluded, and they had seen nothing.

Wuu… wuu… The war horns rang out in long, mournful blasts. The barbarian tribe was marshaling its forces, preparing to strike into the Northern Plains. Twice now, enemies had come to massacre their villages — it was an unbearable humiliation.

All elite fighters were being summoned — whether those dwelling together in the mountain ranges, or those cultivating alone in secret places, or those in closed-door seclusion — every single one was required to appear.

This ancient ox-horn represented war. It was never sounded except at the most critical junctures, and once blown, it meant a world-shaking battle was upon them — the entire tribe would go to war, and blood would flood the land.

Ye Fan felt the time had come to strike into the Northern Plains. The eyes of many great powers were fixed on the Southern Mountain Range, all of them scheming and positioning against him there. By breaking out of that encirclement now, they could strike into the Northern Plains and achieve victory in a single campaign!

Wuu… wuu… The ancient ox-horn rang out in long blasts, shaking every mountain and valley, resounding across the great primal wilderness.

Roarrr!

A great bellow rang out, ten thousand mountains trembling. A massive azure dragon appeared across the sky, casting enormous shadows across the land below. Its aura was boundless and terrifying — the ten thousand living beings trembled at its mere presence.

It bore a pair of immense scaled wings. Each single wing alone could cover an entire mountain — one could only imagine how terrifyingly powerful this sky-lord truly was.

This was a draconic creature bred from the azure dragon’s bloodline, personally raised by the previous Elder Patriarch, with true azure dragon blood flowing in its veins. Upon its back sat nine elderly figures — very old in years, yet each one utterly untamed and feral. They wore hides of beasts, carried great clubs studded with wolf fangs, and every single one bore the exact same bearing.

“These people…” Ye Fan was stunned. These elders were all extraordinarily terrifying — every one of them was around three thousand years of age. They were the living fossils of the tribe.

Roarrrr!

On another side, a great white tiger let out a thunderous roar and came charging out from the depths of the mountain ranges. Each footfall could pulverize a cliff face — an incomparable and terrifying destructive force.

This was another fearsome guardian deity of the barbarian tribe, already more than three thousand five hundred years old, tall as a mountain peak, its demonic presence flooding the sky.

Upon its back rode more than thirty fearsome elders, all over two thousand years of age. Every head of hair was like wild grass. Though their bodies had grown gaunt and thin with the passage of years, each and every one of them was overflowing with vitality and spirit — bearing great battle-axes, wielding massive clubs, one after another fierce and ferocious beyond all imagination.

Roarrrr!

Roar after roar rang out without end. One great primal beast after another came surging forward. Atop each one sat a powerful fighter — these were barbarian warriors of slightly lesser seniority who had not earned the right to ride the two guardian deities.

Their upper bodies were bare, every one of them with muscles like the coiling bodies of flood dragons, skin like bronze and sinew like iron. Some rode upon divine fiends. Others were seated cross-legged atop qilin-lions. Each and every one of them resembled a primal war god from ancient times.

“So many powerful fighters — damn, even when my Dao of Human Desire was at its absolute peak, it never commanded anything this powerful!” Li Tian was shrinking back, cold sweat breaking out across his entire body.

The ancient barbarian tribe was too mysterious and too formidable. No wonder they claimed that even if an immortal dynasty were to come oppressing them, they would dare to strike back and overturn it completely.

“The powerful figures riding primal beasts — some of them are great elites. So many of them, and so incredibly powerful!” Even Yan Yixi felt she could barely breathe.

A great roar swept over, covering every hillside and valley. Figures were everywhere — all of them leaping into the air, old and young alike, each one wild and ferocious beyond measure, wielding fearsome primitive ancient weapons. These men had no mounts, yet each one’s divine power was equally terrifying. And most strikingly — they were everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

“Report!” From the distant sky, someone came riding a mighty raptor, shooting like a bolt of lightning into the depths of the wild mountains. He reported loudly: “The several Wang Family forces that remained in the Southern Mountain Range have entered the barren highlands and are hunting down our tribe’s people! They have declared that no matter where the people of Dongfang Ye’s village and the other ancient villages flee, they will pursue and massacre them — and wipe them all out to the last!”

One of the barbarian tribe’s elders rose to his feet. He stood upon a rocky cliff, his wild hair flying in all directions, and bellowed: “The Wang Family of the Northern Plains has gone too far! This is the third time they have come to massacre our tribespeople! What do you all say we should do?”

“Kill! Strike into the Northern Plains and smash their clan with our full force!”

“Strike back! Break through the Northern Plains Wang Family and let the fury of the barbarian war gods burn across the entire Northern Plains!”

“They seek to massacre our tribespeople — then we shall break through their clan! Let the so-called ancient hereditary family be erased from the face of this world forever!”

Men, women, young, and old — all were roaring, their battle intent surging to the heavens!

Figures blanketed every hillside and valley. Men shouted and beasts bellowed, the crowd stirred to a frenzy — every single one of them ready to charge into the Northern Plains.

“Good! On this very day, with our tribe’s elites assembled, we march into the Northern Plains — to make them fall like horses and riders tumbling over one another, and to kill them dead!” The Elder Patriarch’s great roar from the cliff was met with the answering cries of countless voices below.

“Kill them dead! Strike into the Northern Plains, and knock their cowardly souls right out of them!”

“They insult our tribe and massacre the people of our land — we have endured long enough! Flatten them!”

“Kill them dead!”

The barbarian army — banners unfurling, killing intent lancing to the heavens, battle fervor blazing in every heart. Each one brandished great wolf-fang clubs. Every single person’s blood was boiling. They could barely contain the urge to charge over and begin the slaughter at once.