Before the sacred earth, nine purple-gold divine guardian beasts — massive as elephant-dragons — pulled a war chariot engraved with countless ancient patterns. The pile of divine sources atop it was breathtaking.

At that moment, four fist-sized divine source pieces broke away, producing several faint crackling sounds that rang clearly across the entire battlefield — so soul-shaking that even the roars of tens of thousands of barbarian warriors seemed unable to match them, causing the vast battlefield to fall suddenly silent. Every gaze snapped to the war chariot.

These divine sources were not one unified whole. They had been assembled together, burying a white-haired old man within — a man of enormous, imposing stature, seated in meditation at the center.

“The Dark King Ancestor!” The Wang Family’s people were overcome with excitement, calling out at the top of their voices. Many of them knelt in devout prostration, hoping to summon and awaken the person sealed within the source pile.

On the barbarian army’s side, a death-like stillness reigned. Not a single person spoke. All eyes stared wordlessly at the pile of divine sources ahead of them. Was a terrifying enemy about to revive?

Crack!

Another faint sound, and a source block the size of a face fell away and rolled to the ground. The white-haired old man within still showed no signs of life — yet even so, the entire battlefield was seized with dread.

“Long live the Dark King Ancestor! Strike down every enemy and display our undying might!”

“We beseech the Dark King to take action — deliver our clan from this calamity, annihilate all foes, and forge an invincible legend!”

“Heaven blesses our clan — may we flourish for eternity!”

The Wang Family erupted. Everyone was shouting. Just moments ago, one of the clan’s perfected Kings had been slain by the Barbarian King, and Ye Fan had taken the head of a great power from the midst of ten thousand troops — driving their morale to its lowest point. Now, a Dark Demon King was awakening — this was an immense source of encouragement.

Crack!

This time, dozens of source blocks broke away at once. And the white-haired elder seated within suddenly snapped his eyes open. A startling aura caused all of heaven and earth to shudder, and every heart seized with fear.

These were a pair of hollow, empty eyes — without any luster, like two black holes that could swallow one’s primal soul. Cold and merciless. Gloomy and gray. Without even a trace of human emotion.

“Who has disturbed my slumber? Has the clan arrived at the moment between life and extinction? Sooner or later, such a day was bound to come.” The voice was faint and icy — as though drifting up from the nine underworlds.

“Ancestor, please act. It is a group of savages from the Southern Ridge who are attacking. Even one of our clan’s perfected Kings has fallen in battle.” A great power wept as he spoke, kneeling to the ground.

“Has the Southern Ridge Barbarian Clan truly grown so powerful — daring to attack an ancient clan at will?” The white-haired elder seated within the source pile spoke.

“It is you who were overly aggressive and arrogant. You sent armies into the Southern Ridge three times intending to massacre our people. We are merely carrying out the counterattack that is rightfully ours — to protect our kinsmen.” The Barbarian Clan Chief roared.

“Protect our kinsmen! March upon the Northern Plains!” The tens of thousands of barbarian iron cavalry raised their battle spears to the sky in unison, joining in the great shout — their momentum awe-inspiring.

“What a formidable Barbarian Ancient God of War tribe — just as the legends say. Wherever their blades point, even an undying divine dynasty retreats.” The Dark Demon King within the source pile spoke, as black mist began to seep and drift outward.

His voice grew cold by degrees. Each word fell heavy as ten thousand pounds, striking into the hearts of the barbarian warriors, threatening to shatter their primal spirits:

“And yet — do you truly believe you can destroy an ancient clan? Are you not afraid of being annihilated here?”

Many barbarian warriors could not withstand the onslaught. They vomited blood in great quantities. More than a few fell from their mounts entirely and never rose again.

Boom!

The Barbarian King stepped forward — and the sacred earth heaved violently!

In the distance, an entire mountain range collapsed. Many Wang Family experts ahead of them all vomited blood, were lifted off the ground by the shockwave, and hurled into the sky. Some even exploded to pieces.

“It’s just the Dark Demon King. What’s there to be fierce about? Do you think my barbarian clan fears you? I alone can finish you.” The Barbarian King was slight and wizened in frame, but his words carried a force that could swallow mountains and rivers.

The Dark Body — a deeply terrifying constitution. Once brought to full mastery, its bearer was known as the Dark Demon King, sweeping across all under heaven, with few who could rival him.

“The barbarian clan is remarkable — to have produced a Barbarian King from legend. But this junior of yours is far too arrogant.” The voice drifted from within the source pile, as invisible killing intent surged outward.

Zheng!

Before the sacred earth, a blinding radiance erupted, colliding with a tide of dark light. Two fearsome kings had locked their divine wills in direct collision.

“Dark Demon King — if you were a saint, I would turn and walk away. But you are not. So spare me your elder-feigning posturing. It is said you sat down into death one thousand five hundred years ago — yet here you linger, dragging out your wretched existence, using divine sources to suppress your own being, clinging to that final breath.”

Ye Fan was astonished. From their exchange, he gradually pieced together what was happening — the Dark Demon King was not as ancient as he had imagined. In truth, he was a powerful figure from comparatively recent times.

The Dark Demon King was over five thousand five hundred years old by now — though that was not his true natural lifespan.

In reality, when he reached an age of over four thousand years, his life essence had grown sparse. He had then sealed himself within divine sources, inscribing Dao patterns upon his body, hoping to achieve “immortality.”

Of course, there were limitations even to this so-called immortality. What he had used to seal himself was not divine source liquid — making it impossible to sustain indefinitely.

He had reduced his body’s consumption to the absolute minimum before his life force was extinguished. Even so, he had only managed to extend his existence by a thousand five hundred years at most — already nearing the limit, on the verge of finally passing into death in seated meditation.

Though he was said to be five thousand five hundred years old, his actual cultivation remained as it was at four thousand years — the same combat power as before, and his vital energy and blood no longer sufficient, on the brink of running dry.

Even so, it was still terrifying enough. Once someone had reached four thousand years of age, their combat power was absolutely capable of dominating all under heaven — invincible wherever they went.

“Is that so? Let me see what the so-called Barbarian King is truly capable of!” The Dark Demon King said coldly.

“How many strikes can you still unleash? How much vital energy and blood do you have left? Coming into the world now — you will only bring ruin upon yourself in your final days!” The Barbarian King countered without yielding an inch, a great club of white bone in hand.

“I have enough to sustain two thousand exchanges. Today, I will behead the so-called Barbarian King — whose flesh is said to be invincible!” The Dark Demon King bellowed, his voice shaking heaven and earth.

He did indeed have the foundation for such bold words. A great demon ancestor four thousand years in cultivation was enough to shake the heavens and move the earth. In an age when no saints walked the world, he could reign supreme.

In that moment, a surging tide of black mist roared upward, shattering the clouds in the sky above. The entire area became a place of absolute darkness.

Yet he did not break free from the divine source pile — he had no desire to waste even a sliver of his remaining lifespan. He waited for his enemies to come and shatter it. He had very little time left in this world.

Such was the nature of reserves: once exposed to light, death would follow. The moment they emerged into the world, regardless of victory or defeat, they would instantly pass into death in seated meditation.

“Hou…” The demonic roar shook heaven and earth. The entire Northern Plains seemed to shudder. A world-dominating demon king had entered the world — invisible killing intent surged in all four directions.

The barbarian army coughed blood and stumbled back, all of them seized with terror. This was a world-dominating demon king far more fearsome than Wang Lie had been — bearing the title of Dark!

No one noticed that throughout this entire time, Ye Fan had been quietly preparing, moving in secret — carving pattern after pattern into the ground with both feet.

This was the Wang Family’s sacred earth, crisscrossed by ten thousand ancient dragon veins — a place of dragon ascension. Naturally, source veins and dragon energy ran beneath the ground.

Over a decade had passed, and in his spare moments Ye Fan had been studying and refining the Source Heavenly Scripture. He had long since surpassed his previous level, moving toward the rank of a Source Heavenly Master.

Boom!

In that instant, Ye Fan stomped both feet down with sudden explosive force. The dragon veins beneath the ground were instantly reactivated, blazing with ten million streaks of radiance, drawing in source energy, igniting and enlivening the power of life.

This was an upheaval beyond anyone’s imagination. From beneath Ye Fan’s feet, a terrifying great dragon spread outward — connecting directly to the war chariot pulled by the nine purple-gold divine guardian beasts.

Boom!

A world-shaking transformation occurred. The entire pile of divine source blocks burst into flame — then suddenly shattered. The force unleashed was incomparably terrifying.

Before the sacred earth, it was as though a sun had exploded. Ten million divine beams erupted. Boundless radiance poured outward. No one could look directly at it. This was a catastrophe.

“Ahh…”

The Wang Family’s people screamed. Those who had been closest were shattered in that very first instant — dissolving into putrid blood, then igniting, becoming ash.

Cries erupted in wave after wave. The Wang Family’s people were stricken with terror — not grieving for the many experts who had died, but shaking with dread on behalf of the Dark Demon King.

With the divine source pile detonated, this great ancestor had been seated right at the center — taking the full brunt of it first. Could it be that he had been finished off before he even had the chance to act? It was a maddening, suffocating humiliation.

Boom!

From within the sacred earth, the aura of a supreme sacred weapon surged out — overwhelming, flooding everything — forcibly suppressing all the detonating divine source blocks, restoring stillness to the area.

Otherwise, this entire territory would cease to exist. With so many divine sources burning together, the entire dragon ascension land would have been incinerated to scorched earth, its life force extinguished forever.

“Ahh…”

A white-haired elder had one arm severed. His skull was cracked open. Both legs were twisted at grotesque angles. He tilted his head back and roared, his entire body shrouded in terrifying black mist.

The Dark Demon King had not died. Even in such a divine source storm, his life was not in danger. One could only imagine how terrifying he truly was.

Beside him, all nine purple-gold divine guardian beasts, the war chariot, and the great many experts who had been present were all vaporized — turned to dust. Only he stood alone.

“Great Ancestor!” The Wang Family’s people cried out. This was a massive blow — before he had even struck, he had first suffered a loss of his own vitality, and from the looks of it, a severe one.

“Ahh…” The Dark Demon King too was consumed with rage. In his prime, he had swept across the five domains — invincible under heaven. Today he had suffered this great a humiliation.

In his entire life, he had met defeat only once — four thousand years ago in the Eastern Wasteland, at the hands of an extraordinarily gifted, remarkably young white-robed Divine King whose brilliance had shone throughout the ages. He had returned in defeat with a broken Dao-heart.

Otherwise, he would never have chosen the path of self-sealing. Being utterly suppressed by a young King — an absolute, overwhelming suppression — had caused him to lose his will to seek the Dao.

And now, once again a young person, using this kind of technique, had inflicted wounds upon him — and from that young person’s body, he sensed a familiar, identical aura.

“You also cultivate the Battling Scripture!” The Dark Demon King bellowed in a great roar, transforming into a streak of dark light and charging forward like a man gone mad.

“Well done!” The Barbarian King glanced back at Ye Fan, then stepped forward with the bone club to meet the Dark Demon King’s charge.

Boom!

Where the Barbarian King and the Dark Demon King met, the heavens shattered and the earth split. Sacred domains collided. The two transformed into two streaks of light that coiled around each other in a fight to the death.

On all four sides, the earth sank. Mountain ranges collapsed. It was as though creation itself were beginning again — ten thousand living things annihilated in an instant.

On the barbarian army’s side, a stone axe hung aloft, raining down countless strands of divine power like silk ribbons, sheltering everyone within.

In the sacred earth it was the same — the supreme sacred weapon unleashed a surging, majestic aura, shielding all of the Wang Family’s people within. Without this protection, the clash of two kings could have destroyed everything.

“Kill!”

Behind them, the tens of thousands of barbarian warriors raised their weapons in unison, riding their mounts and crying out together, lending their voices to the Barbarian King — like a horde of wild heavenly soldiers.

And on the other side, the Wang Family’s people burned with fury, shouting and screaming: “Kill all these savages!”

“Destroy the sacred constitution!” They were so filled with hatred for Ye Fan they could have stripped the skin from his body. If not for him, how could such a catastrophe have occurred?

Boom!

The great battle raging at the center of the field was brutal to its limit. The Dark Demon King let out a breath of primal demonic energy that nearly blasted the Barbarian King’s chest apart.

But in that same moment, the Barbarian King displayed the awe-inspiring power for which he was legendary — swinging the bone club in a great arc, executing the ancient barbarian battle arts, a strike that split stone and shocked the heavens, landing squarely on the enemy’s waist.

Crack!

Half of the Dark Demon King’s body was smashed to ruin. Dark demonic blood poured out, terrifying to behold.

“And you call yourself the so-called reserves? You’re still not a match for one such as me, who walks among the living!” The Barbarian King was divinely fierce — slight and wizened in frame, yet his divine power overwhelmed the world: peerlessly fierce.

“Ahh…” The Dark Demon King howled with rage, shot upward into the sky, and launched into battle again. The killing intent on his back surged to the heavens, his disheveled hair whipping wildly, demonic energy flooding outward.

“Wrath of the God of War!” The Barbarian King bellowed, and as he swung the bone club, the enormous phantom of a great war god materialized at the end of the club.

This war god soared to towering heights, head tilted back in a sky-rending roar, hair wild and unkempt, muscles of ancient bronze rippling across his powerful frame like coiling dragons. With a mighty howl, his fury boiled over.

Boom!

This war god manifested at the tip of the bone club, releasing a surging torrent of blood-red vital energy that bore down on the Dark Demon King — filling him with dread, his entire body covered in cracks.

Hum!

The club came crashing down — capable of shattering mountains and rivers. And the war god himself struck out, a palm descending.

The ten directions collapsed. Heaven and earth trembled together. The Dark Demon King suffered another grievous wound — sent flying horizontally, his body riddled with fractures, nearly broken apart entirely.

“Dark God Descent!”

He too let out a great roar. A black demonic god manifested behind his back, howling to shake the heavens, lunging and charging toward the Barbarian King.

Blood bloomed. The Barbarian King was sent flying in reverse — he had taken a terrifying blow.

“One Thought Cleaves the Firmament!” The Barbarian King bellowed. He leapt upward, his entire being transforming into a terrifying phantom. From within his brow, a divine spirit stepped forth — identical in appearance to himself — and charged into the fray.

“Darkness without end — where I am, none prevail — I reign supreme over the earth!” The Dark Demon King roared, his form splitting into nine — nine ancient demonic figures surging upward, all charging forward together.

Two supreme kings clashed with ferocious intensity!

“Kill — the Barbarian Ancient God of War is undying, sweeping all before us!”

“Kill — long live the Barbarian King, peerlessly fierce!”

The barbarian iron cavalry roared in unison — their valor capable of swallowing mountains and rivers, inspiring awe in all.

“The Dark Ancestor King is invincible — strike down every enemy!”

“Slaughter the savages — destroy the sacred constitution!”

The Wang Family too was shouting, lending their voices to bolster their king’s momentum.

And at that very moment, Ye Fan came pushing through the crowd, holding the Divine Maiden Furnace, stepping toward the battlefield. He was the only cultivator daring enough to advance into the area where the kings were fighting.

He roared: “Who dares to come out and fight? Where is Wang Teng? Do any of the Wang Family’s experts have the courage to step forward?!”

His sacred constitution body — matchless in all the world. Those words rang across the Northern Plains like heavenly thunder, reverberating through everything. Though the Wang Family’s experts seethed with fury, not a single one dared to answer the challenge.

One figure stood alone before ten thousand armies, and yet not one person dared to come out to face him. This sight sent the barbarian warriors’ fighting spirit soaring even higher, a tremendous surge in morale.

“Kill — who dares face us in battle?!”

“Kill — who can rival us?!”

“Kill — peerlessly fierce!”

Tens of thousands of barbarian cavalry roared, voices echoing for Ye Fan’s challenge — their spirit capable of swallowing mountains and rivers, resounding to the heavens.

In the distance, the Wang Family’s morale had sunk to rock bottom. The Dark Demon King had attacked for a long time without achieving victory, apparently having suffered the worse end of things. And now a sacred constitution was pressing down upon all of them in this way — not a single person daring to step out to fight.