A great demon-beast walked into the garden, bowing respectfully, expression full of deference. In this place, a number of grandmasters and living fossils had prepared a banquet and invited Ye Fan and the others to attend.

By now, even the grandmasters of the world had to treat Ye Fan with the utmost courtesy and care, afraid to provoke this killing god — someone who had dared to cut down even the primordial royal tribe. What was there he could not do?

Wu Fei, one of the Four Celestial Women, was also invited — she was asked to play an ancient melody — as one perfectly suited to such occasions, a rare luminous presence who could lend the banquet a special splendor.

As for Chen Yuan, Liu Yunjie, Kong Linghua, Xie Siyuan, and their like — they were not so honored. Neither were the other luminous beauties of the Southern Ridge. This distinction was not for them.

This was the Winter Snow Garden. Great snowflakes fell thick and fast. That such a sight could be seen anywhere in the Southern Ridge — a place of eternal spring — was naturally the work of human effort.

From bitter cold comes the fragrance of plum blossom, blooming proud against the wind. Gleaming white snow lay everywhere underfoot; cold air struck the face. Within several pavilions, jade tables were laid out, covered with rare delicacies and fine wines.

All who sat here were great demons of the Southern Ridge, or grandmaster-rank figures of the human race. Otherwise there was simply no seat for them.

More than a decade had passed since then. Ye Fan’s standing was utterly different now. Some of the people here had once seen him at the Jade Pool Peach Blossom Feast in earlier years — when he had appeared in the capacity of a Southern Ridge demon lord — and at that time he could only watch from afar.

Now he sat as an equal. He could not help but feel a wave of deep feeling wash over him. There had been no small number of people who had hunted him in those days, and now scarcely any of them dared to retreat — few dared to directly oppose him.

“To be alive in a troubled age and yet witness the human Sacred Physique grow to this point — this truly must be called a great fortune. When one looks back to ancient times, each appearance of a Great Completion Sacred Physique was always in the midst of chaos and disaster — quelling the turbulence, bringing peace to all under heaven, protecting the cosmic order, and earning our deepest reverence, filling our hearts with gratitude and admiration.”

“Indeed. In the ancient lands, upheavals of darkness erupted time and again. Every time, the human race’s Great Completion Sacred Physique descended in the midst of those troubled ages, turned the tide at the most desperate moment, restored peace to all under heaven — fighting until every last drop of sacred blood was shed, dying wrapped in the cloth of warhorses, their heroic spirit covering the world!”

Someone expressed this sentiment — it seemed to come from the heart, touched with genuine sorrow.

When the subject turned to the ancient wars, people could not help but feel a chill within. Every battle had been a river of blood, a mountain of bones. Even the Great Completion Sacred Physique had died in combat at times — one could well imagine how brutal and savage those battles had been.

Ye Fan was silent within his heart. In that age, the Forbidden Zones of Life had erupted in turmoil; divine spirits from beyond the domain had invaded — it could be called an age of manifold calamities. And it was precisely in such times that great emperors were born, proving the Dao in the human world, suppressing all disasters and calamities.

And now — this was already an age unlike any in a thousand ages. The slumbering ten thousand primordial races were all about to awaken. If, on top of that, the existences within the several Great Forbidden Zones of Life were also to stir — the mere thought of it made the scalp crawl.

Ye Fan would never forget: the Great Completion Sacred Physique, his blood dyeing the stone walls of the mountain, slain atop the Sacred Cliff in his old age — his blood staining an entire great mountain red.

That kind of brutality, those kinds of enemies, those kinds of great battles — truly beyond imagination. Even the human race’s Great Completion Sacred Physique could only depart in sorrow, wrapped in burial cloth and interred in the earth — carrying with him one lifetime of unmatched invincibility, and yet in the end, falling in defeat.

The ancient wars — brutal and world-shaking — recorded in no small number of ancient texts. The Great Completion Sacred Physique had watched as friends and loved ones fell in battle; even he had not been able to protect them all — he could only give them sacred blood to drink, helping them prolong their lives.

“Has such an age come again?” Ye Fan murmured to himself. Now it would likely be even worse — the Forbidden Zones unquelled, divine spirits making their appearances — perhaps far more complex by many times over.

He did not know whether in the future such a brutal and devastating great war would occur again — whether he would be able to protect those closest to him.

“This is a great age seen only once in ten thousand generations. Once the primordial kings all emerge, will there still be any space for us to survive?” One person expressed despair.

For a long period of time, battles and conflicts had never ceased. Throughout a very extended era, the human race had continually found itself in a position of weakness.

Speaking truly, it was likely only in the age of Wushi that the human race finally became genuinely powerful and fearless — truly, in the full sense, suppressing all in every direction, becoming the central force of all under heaven.

At the end of the immortal path, who stands supreme? One sight of Wushi, and the Dao achieved dissolves into emptiness. This was not something proclaimed carelessly — it was because he had swept aside all opposition, leaving no suspense whatsoever. Whatever darkness erupted, whatever supreme existence dared to emerge — all were hunted down and killed! What dark chaos, what supreme existences — any that dared to appear in the world were all suppressed and slain. In his age, no great calamity emerged.

All the great emperors of antiquity had already passed, returned to the yellow earth of the burial mounds. And now another terrifying turbulent age had arrived, filling people’s hearts with unease and dread.

These grandmasters and living fossils reflected on the sages, feeling for what had passed, gazing in thought toward the great emperors — if even one were still alive in the world, there would be nothing to worry over. But the present moment was different.

Wu Fei, one of the Southern Ridge’s Four Celestial Women, sat to one side playing the guqin. The melody carried a faint undertone of sorrow — recalling the ancient sages, lamenting the past — deeply stirring the feelings of all who heard it.

People admired the snow and the plum blossom, poured drinks and shared cups, spoke of the past and the present. Whether from the heart or merely for appearances, all seemed to be touched.

“My thanks to everyone for the banquet. A pity — someone will not allow me to drink my fill — I cannot continue.”

Ye Fan drank the last cup and set his jade cup upon the stone table.

“What do you mean by that, young friend Ye?” An old grandmaster asked. In the present day, even those over two thousand years of age addressed him as a peer.

“Never mind, everyone continue drinking. I will dance with my sword to add to the festivities — let us not ruin the atmosphere!” Ye Fan rose to his feet.

“Has someone come?” Yan Yixi asked in a quiet voice.

“Yes. They have come quickly. Without waiting for me to go out and intercept them — people from the Ancient Assassin Divine Dynasty are already here.” Ye Fan transmitted his voice, telling the others to hold the Divine Woman Furnace close and be careful of their own safety.

“Who will lend me a sword?” Ye Fan, tall and straight, stepped out into the garden where snow drifted in thick flurries — taking his stand among the plum blossoms.

“To watch the human Sacred Physique dance with a sword — what a great fortune. This old one has a battle sword.”An ancient demon-beast presented a long sword.

“Clang!”

In an instant, the long sword left its sheath, a divine rainbow flashed — pff — blood flowers bloomed. In the distance, a section of void was cloven open. A man’s head flew upward, fresh blood streaming long.

“This is…” Everyone was shocked. An enemy had crept this close — at such proximity — without being detected. This was truly a terrifying thing.

This was a middle-aged man who absolutely possessed the power of the second tier of the Immortal Platform. Most terrifying of all was his concealment technique — genuinely chilling.

Hsst!

A streak of pure white arced through the air. Ye Fan swept out another sword stroke, thrusting into the void — pff — blood flowers surged. A person’s skull bone was pierced clean through and pinned to nothing, hoisted out.

“How is this possible?!” The crowd’s hair stood on end. Within a distance of several dozen zhang, there were people in hiding — this was an absolutely dangerous signal.

Hsst!

At that very moment, two streaks of radiance brighter than comets burst across the sky, slashing toward Ye Fan. Two silhouettes shot forward.

Ye Fan’s expression remained serene — it seemed as though he had anticipated this long ago. Moving after but arriving first: his left fist shot out, and on the spot he shattered one old assassin — person and sword both — into broken pieces. His right hand swept the long sword upward, and in one stroke cleaved another directly in two.

“Everyone, there is nothing to fear here. This is a minor technique — with a single Illusion-Shattering Art, they have nowhere left to hide.” Ye Fan said, and immediately spoke aloud a secret technique before all those assembled — drawn from the ancient arts of the Heavenly Court.

“Retreat!”

A voice rang out from within the void. In an instant, more than twenty people burst out of the snowy garden and fled in every direction. So many assassins had converged here — the revelation sent a chill through the bones.

“The Divine Son of the Ancient Assassin Divine Dynasty — are you not acclaimed as capable of killing every king in existence? I have been waiting all along — why do you not dare to appear?” Ye Fan, holding his blood-dripping divine sword, gave chase. His speed was extraordinary — nearly ten steps for each kill — fresh blood soaking everything.

The small realm erupted into chaos once more. Everyone was frozen in shock. The human Sacred Physique was too ferociously powerful. People had always heard of the Ancient Assassin Divine Dynasty’s people hunting and killing others — and now he was the one in pursuit, cutting a bloody trail all the way.

“If your Divine Son will not appear — today, not a single one of you leaves alive!” Ye Fan shouted.

He gave chase all the way. By the time they reached the exit of the small realm, of more than twenty people, only two remained — yet even escaping out here was useless.

In the sky above Vermilion Bird City, Ye Fan cut them both in two at the waist. Not a single person escaped.

“Hum!”

The void suddenly shuddered. There — in the sky above Vermilion Bird City — nine kill-swords emerged simultaneously, thrusting at a single central point. At the same time, an ancient assassin formation from a primordial age was laid out, seeking to trap Ye Fan within it and refine him.

Nine elders — all of them suffused with ferocious bloodlust, their killing intent cold and dense, without question veterans of countless battles, having crawled out from the dead, with no telling how many lives they had taken.

Nine terrifying old assassins, all moving at once!

“Your Divine Son is too cautious. Does he not wish to kill me? Yet he does not dare to appear himself. He calls it ‘proving the Dao through killing’ — the way I see it, it is more like ‘proving the Dao through hiding.'” Ye Fan mocked — yet his gaze was utterly cold. He opened his mouth and spat: the Wang Clan divine weapon, the Vajra Ring, flew outward. Behind his head, the Profound Magnetic Mountain also rose and surged forward.

His feet executed the Movement Script. With a single bound, he shot clear of the assassin formation. By now, very few formations could still trap him.

“Hum!”

The Vajra Ring was a Wang Clan divine weapon — capable of cleaving through mountains and splitting the heavenly vault. Whatever it struck would be destroyed. When Ye Fan brought forth this treasure, one old assassin immediately fell to a grievous death.

“Go — our many secret techniques are useless against him! He can see through every mechanism of heaven!” One person cried out.

“Too late! Today, not a single one of you leaves!” Ye Fan gave chase.

The people of the Ancient Assassin Divine Dynasty panicked. Every secret technique they had learned was useless — utterly without concealment before him. This was no assassination whatsoever — it had become a completely open confrontation.

Vermilion Bird City. Cultivators too numerous to count lifted their heads and gazed skyward. They saw Ye Fan driving all manner of weapons: the Vajra Ring, the Profound Magnetic Mountain, the God-Smiting Whip, the black Wang Clan war chariot, the Ten Thousand Objects Origin Qi Cauldron, and more — all blazing with radiance simultaneously, slaughtering in every direction.

This was a slaughter. He alone killed in every direction. The battle sword in his hand dripped with blood; the Ten Thousand Objects Origin Qi Cauldron and the rest — one impact sent a great swathe of the void thundering and trampled.

There were many assassins — truly all of them in hiding, not visible to outsiders. But before Ye Fan they had nowhere to hide; again and again, people saw him sweep blood flowers out of apparent nothingness.

“He knows the secret arts of our Assassin Divine Dynasty.”

“Shall we make our move?”

“Those two people behind him — their bodies almost certainly carry ancient sacred weapons. I have a chilling premonition.”

“It seems we cannot make our move today.”

In the distant sky, a man and a woman conversed in low voices. They were merged with the heavens and earth — no one could perceive them — only a thread of aura that even living fossils would have found chilling radiated outward, like an undying assassination god reborn. These were precisely the Divine Son and Divine Daughter of the Ancient Assassin Divine Dynasty.

On another side, a golden ancient war chariot clove through the long sky as it came. When from afar it saw Ye Fan slaughtering in every direction, the chariot suddenly halted — and did not advance a single step further.

Wang Teng — hair disheveled, body blazing with ten thousand feet of radiance — stood upon the golden war chariot, utterly motionless, unmoving.

To the north, Hua Yunfei, whose Demon Art of Heaven Devouring had reached Great Completion, moved in swirling blue robes — like an exiled immortal descended upon the world — with an elegance and transcendence that defied all description.

Not far away, Li Xiaoman sat cross-legged in the void, her body dressed in snow-white, the three hundred and sixty-five golden vortices across her form each sheltering a divine being seated within.

She suddenly snapped open her eyes. “The Shared-Life Divine Spirits stir — there must be a great sacred weapon of the human race nearby.”

Further still, in another stretch of void, a vague and towering silhouette stood alone. “Human Sacred Physique — I have made my way here all the way from the Northern Domain specifically for you. You were able to cut down Zi Tiandu. You have earned my move.”

At the same moment, as if by some stirring of perception, Ye Fan swept his gaze across the four directions. “Since you have all come — why do you not dare to emerge and fight?”

The vast sky was still and silent. Not a single voice answered. Every great enemy stood within the void — and not one of them came near.