The fat old Duan shamelessly sidled over and said: “Hit me as hard as you like — let me give you a chance to release some steam.”

“You son of a dog, Duan De — that’s my body!” Ye Fan seized him by the collar, barely suppressing the urge to beat his face into a pig’s head.

In truth, he desperately wanted to send his big foot flying into several fierce kicks. This dead fatty was utterly loathsome no matter how you looked at him — begging to be beaten, that smug grin of his somehow even more infuriating for how oblivious it seemed.

Yaochi — spiritual peaks wreathed in auspicious mist, sacred earth adorned with colored clouds, a beautiful lake suffused with rising vapors — its scenery read like poetry given form.

Gazing into the distance, beneath the graceful beauty lay a grandeur that was nothing short of overwhelming. Three-thousand-foot silver cascades. Eight-thousand-zhang towering crags. Vast and magnificent, like the immortal realm of mighty Kunlun itself.

Outside Yaochi, figures descended from auspicious clouds at intervals — sword-riding Human Clan cultivators alongside Ancient Living Beings shrouded in coiling demonic energy, all manner of beings in every conceivable form.

“At this gathering, the Ancient Clans of ten thousand races will all come. Parading around so conspicuously like this — are you looking to get yourself killed?” Ye Fan pressed a hand down on his head, attempting to forcibly drag out his Divine Soul.

“Relax. The very first rule of the Yaochi Gathering is that no matter how deep the enmity, no provocation or open conflict is permitted here.” Duan De resisted with all his might.

Ye Fan was genuinely taken aback. This dead fatty truly had something unfathomably deep about him — he had actually been unable to force the Divine Soul out.

“I’ll give it back to you in a bit. This isn’t a good place.” Duan De grimaced in obvious strain, clearly under tremendous pressure, and said: “Don’t waste your energy. Say what you will, this Dao Lord is a man who broke through and rebuilt himself — even if, damn it all, I ended up breaking back down again in the end.”

From time to time, various beings rode past on Ancient Treasures, and upon spotting the two of them, couldn’t help but steal a few glances. Before long, someone finally recognized them.

“Isn’t that the Human Clan’s Holy Body? He’s here too!” Many were astonished.

“Nerves of steel, coming to a place like this. Aren’t you afraid of having your sinews stripped and your hide flayed?!” A weathered Ancient Living Being in the distance let out a cold, sinister laugh.

Duan De sneered: “This Seat is right here, so you can go and cool off wherever you damn well please. The gathering may forbid killing — but if you anger me, I’ll still blast you into dust.”

That Ancient Living Being let out a cold snort and turned to leave. He was from a minor clan and did not dare act recklessly here — if he truly provoked a response from the Western Emperor Pagoda, no one would speak on his behalf.

“You’re really enjoying yourself, swaggering around in my body like this, aren’t you?” Ye Fan’s expression was far from pleasant, though he didn’t immediately reclaim his physical body.

For he had already achieved Grand Perfection at the second level of the Immortal Platform. The moment his “Divine Soul” and “Shell” reunited, it would instantly draw down a colossal Heavenly Tribulation — deeply unsuited to a place like Yaochi.

And this was also a source of his confidence in entering Yaochi. Even if faced with an Ancestral King, he would dare to draw down lightning punishment to strike them, entangling them in the Great Tribulation of Saints.

“I say, young man, conduct yourself with some integrity. The Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar is on you — what authority do I have to throw my weight around? When are you giving that back to me?” The fat old Duan argued with considerable conviction.

They walked side by side into Yaochi. Ye Fan paid him no further attention, merely thinking that if a tribulation truly did need to be crossed, he would blast this scoundrel to a smoking cinder first.

“I’ll say this much — the Ancient Clans all have quite individual looks. You see that fellow over there — dog’s head, human body, a pair of pure white divine wings on its back, wreathed in a ring of divine radiance? Quite something.” Duan De looked around, offering his critique.

“Shut your mouth. One more word and I’ll seal it.” Ye Fan said. That scoundrel was wearing his body and drawing hatred upon himself here — he truly deserved a beating.

“Then we can just split up and go our separate ways — you walk your road, I’ll walk mine, and neither of us has to look at the other.” Duan De grumbled, then fixed his eyes on a figure ahead that looked like some divine demon, and said: “What’s the story on that one? Truly ferocious — four heads, eight arms. Probably not easy to cut down.”

Quite evidently, the Ancient Living Being ahead had heard every word. Its hair was thick and dark, its body clad in royal clan armor — divine and imposing, eyes as sharp as sword-light.

“Another word out of you and I’ll abandon this body entirely. Now that I have an even stronger Sacred Shell, the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar becomes mine.” Ye Fan threatened.

“Don’t, don’t — we’re just strolling about, just chatting. Say one more word and you can slap me in the mouth, and I won’t even fight back.”

“Damn it — that’s my body!”

“Hey, look at that — there’s a deity over there. Truly imposing. If you strung him up, he could probably serve as an eternally burning, undying lamp for ten thousand years.”

“That mouth of yours really is wretched. That’s a full-fledged king-level being. He’ll skin you alive in a moment.”

“Let him skin me. I won’t even put up a fight.”

“Give me back my body!”

“I was just saying. Hey, look — over there is a supreme overlord who has nine beautiful female heads yet the body of a phoenix. Truly extraordinary. Those tail feathers are something else entirely.”

Thwack!

Ye Fan shoved something over that scoundrel’s mouth. His gutter of a mouth had no filter whatsoever — he had cultivated the art of saying embarrassing things to an absolutely transcendent level.

“Damn it, stop covering my mouth. I just wanted to say — a fan made from phoenix tail feathers would surely be worth a fortune. Once I dug up a Saint’s tomb, but unfortunately an earlier predecessor had already paid it a visit — all that was left was a carved stone relief of a precious fan. What a shame.” The fat old Duan was a dead pig with no fear of boiling water.

The convocation of ten thousand clans would not begin for a few days yet, but Yaochi had already drawn quite a crowd. Clan after clan was represented, every conceivable form was on display, and many of the beings looked like divine entities or demons alike — deeply awe-inspiring.

Yaochi was vast, yet it was riddled with restrictions. Many areas were entirely off-limits, and the divine might of the Immortal Tear Green-Gold Pagoda descended in all directions, blanketing everything — no one dared take a single unauthorized step.

Even so, the areas opened up for the gathering were expansive: rare trees grew in lush abundance, ancient groves stretched in dense swaths, one spiritual peak rose after another, and lake after lake dotted the landscape, wreathed in cloud and luminous mist, all set within this sacred ground.

The breadth of space was deliberate — meant to keep the clans from crowding together and sparking conflict.

Dong—

A divine bell rang out with a deep, resonant tone. An honored guest had arrived, and many clan leaders from the Human Clan as well as Ancient Living Beings went out to receive them — one of the Thirteen Cave Lords of the Fire Kirin Cave had arrived. Such standing demanded respect.

This was a clan that had produced an Ancient Emperor. In the Ancient Era, their might had been at its zenith — there had been a period when they reigned supreme over all under heaven, and every clan on the great earth had trembled before them in reverence. Many clans that refused to heed their commands had been exterminated.

“This clan’s inheritance stretches back to antiquity. Most fearsome of all is that they have a living Ancient Emperor’s Son — a contingency left by the Ancient Emperor himself, one who was personally sealed within divine Source by that Emperor of old.”

People were talking, for now that the various clans had emerged, many secrets had come to light.

“The so-called Ancient Emperor’s progeny — that would be Huo Qizi, surely. I wonder if he’s come.”

“At a gathering like this, I’d wager he’ll definitely be here.” An Ancient Living Being spoke with reverence. Even among the Ancient Clans, hierarchies existed — and the gulf between them could be as vast as that between cloud and mud.

The Human Clan could not know for certain, but they could extrapolate somewhat from the descendants of the Ancient Great Emperors.

An Ancient Great Emperor’s own sons — each and every one of them had been a figure without equal in past or present. At the height of their maturity, they would stand only half a step from Attaining the Dao, possessing incomparable talent and bloodline power of terrifying magnitude.

These were no empty words. For during the Dark Turmoil, Emperor’s Sons had emerged and sacrificed themselves to suppress all the great chaos.

A pity, those outstanding individuals — all consumed within the Dark Turmoil. Had they not shared an era with their Emperor Fathers, they could have Attained the Dao in their own time.

Now, these Ancient Emperor’s Sons had yet to fully mature — they had not yet reached the pinnacle — but they had escaped the shadow of their forebears’ eras, and the day would inevitably come when they would shake the world.

“You know why I’ve been challenging the Son of Heaven and Yuangu, and then kept narrowly missing them each time?” Duan De was deeply dissatisfied, and said: “Those few scoundrels are truly formidable. Even at the same cultivation level, I don’t think the Holy Body has any advantage.”

Ye Fan said nothing. He had never believed the Holy Body to be supreme above all — the first few generations of Ancient Emperor bloodlines were in a league of their own, beyond compare. There was nothing more to say about it. Yet he believed he could contend with them on equal footing.

He understood, however, that Attaining the Dao was not determined by bloodline alone. The Fierce Man Great Emperor had been no more than an ordinary mortal of flesh and blood, yet in the end he had trodden upon the bones of sovereigns to reach the absolute pinnacle — unmatched throughout all time, past or present.

“Relatively speaking, Yuangu isn’t the most fearsome of them — because he is already several generations removed from the Ancient Emperor’s bloodline.” Duan De said, letting slip this piece of intelligence.

Half a day later, another divine bell rang out. One of the Seventeen Mountain Lords of the Blood Phoenix Mountain had arrived — a figure of supreme prestige and incomparable nobility. This line, too, had produced an Ancient Emperor, supreme over an entire era of the Ancient Times.

Over the next two days, the Human Clan found themselves in an increasingly awkward position. As it stood, only the Barbarian King could hold the stage — not one other king-level being had emerged.

It was a profoundly unnatural scene. The divine bell rang every day, yet thus far among the Human Clan, only the Barbarian King was deemed worthy of a formal welcome.

One hardly needed to think hard about it: when the true day of the grand convocation arrived, some of the great clans would surely send their Ancestral Kings. Yet did the Human Clan even have a single Saint of their own in this era?

At the thought of this question, many among the Human Clan lost their nerve — heads bowed, unable to hold them up.

“If only the Wushi Great Emperor would manifest — even if every Ancestral King of every Ancient Clan were to come, none of it would matter!”

“That’s right — even if His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t reveal himself, it would do if the Human Clan’s Great Saint Zhang Lin himself came.”

Quite a few among the Human Clan were murmuring along these lines, using such words to mask the awkwardness of the moment.

Ye Fan and Duan De had been watching carefully throughout, observing the various Ancient Clans and assessing their strengths. “Ten thousand clans” was an exaggeration, of course — there couldn’t possibly be that many.

Two days later, a commotion broke out outside Yaochi. No divine bell had sounded, yet a large crowd surged toward the disturbance, jostling one another for a glimpse.

“Who has arrived?” Duan De was puzzled.

“Let’s go have a look.” Ye Fan said.

Outside Yaochi, a young man was walking forward. He appeared quite composed, yet every step he took seemed to fall in perfect harmony with heaven and earth — there was a nameless rhythm to his movement.

He was a man of extraordinary beauty, one that many women in the world would envy. One could only describe him as a matchless brilliance of bearing — his entire being shimmering with crystalline light, radiance flowing over him, attended by several elderly servants as his guard.

In all his life, Ye Fan had never seen such a sight. This man was even more strikingly handsome than Hua Yunfei by a margin — utterly flawless, approaching perfection.

The Son of Heaven!

Many Ancient Living Beings bowed in unison — with profound sincerity, not a hint of artifice.

This was the sole son of the Undying Celestial Emperor, manifesting himself today. Ye Fan’s eyes flickered with light — at last, he laid eyes upon the only bloodline of the deity revered at the heart of the Ancient Clans.

The Son of Heaven was enveloped by five-colored divine rings, descending like the son of a god, even his hair seemingly crystalline and translucent, as he moved step by step forward.

His eyes were unfathomably deep — within them, mountains and rivers seemed to play out their evolution, ages rose and fell, and all manner of visions of ascending to immortality unfolded, enough to pull one’s soul into their depths, awe-inspiring beyond words.

Ye Fan was startled. This must surely be the priceless legacy the Undying Celestial Emperor had bequeathed to him — a treasure of immeasurable worth.

The Son of Heaven fixed his gaze on Ye Fan and Duan De with a single glance, his eyes shifting with a flowing brilliance. One of the elders behind him let out a cold snort.

“So the Human Clan’s Holy Body has come as well — this time we’ve finally not missed each other. Let’s see where you escape to now!” That elder’s laughter was cold and sinister, his killing intent boundless.

Suddenly, a long, piercing whistle rang out from far away, rapidly closing the distance — yet a torrent of golden holy light had already arrived before the sound itself, carrying with it a surging tide of blood energy, sweeping a pitch-black great staff in a downward smash.

“Exactly right — let’s see where any of you run this time!” A golden figure came hurtling forward, bellowing as it charged.

“Audacious!” One of the elderly servants behind the Son of Heaven stepped forward, moving to intercept, raising a hand to meet the great staff.

Pff!

Without a single moment of suspense, the pitch-black great staff swung down and reduced that old servant — formidable beyond reckoning — to a pulp of flesh, shattered on the spot.

This was a Golden Sacred Ape — brilliant and resplendent from head to tail, blood energy surging to the heavens. It threw back its head and let out a mighty roar, its might unmatched and overwhelming.

Ye Fan was overcome with joy. The monkey was unharmed — and had arrived here today.

Everyone else went pale with shock. The son of the Battle Sage Emperor had arrived, of incomparably noble standing — and he had come for the Son of Heaven. None could compare to this arrival.