The Ancestral Crocodile was drenched in blood, the lower half of his body reduced to a mass of pulverized flesh — completely beaten apart by the white bone staff. He lay there, barely clinging to life, none of his former majesty remaining.
Ye Fan was practically petrified. He truly could not quite believe it — this was more like something out of a fairy tale!
The Ancestral Crocodile regained consciousness from his stupor, only to find himself being held upside down by one leg like a dead fish. He thrashed violently, but the old sage was brutal — one swing of the staff cracked his bones in multiple places. Had the old sage not wished to preserve the meat, he would likely have been reduced to utter annihilation, body and soul alike.
What was happening? The ancient great crocodile could not accept it! He could not accept this reality — that there existed in the world someone this terrifying, someone capable of treating him this way.
In the past, he had dominated all beneath heaven. A single strike could cleave open an ancient star. The bodhisattvas and ancient Buddhas of the primordial era were no match for him — he swept all before him, unstoppable! And now he had become a prisoner with his life forfeit.
The Ancestral Crocodile roared out. This was an unbearable humiliation. He was an unrivaled demon sage, and had never imagined dying in a manner this devoid of dignity. To die like this was simply too pathetic.
After a long while, Ye Fan finally came back to his senses, and could not help but burst into laughter, lifting his face toward the sky. Not long ago, this ancient great crocodile had looked upon him as an insect beneath notice, filled with contempt and scorn, even intending to trample him to death with a single foot — and now he had met this tremendous calamity. This was truly divine justice, swift and certain.
“Roar!”
The Ancestral Crocodile’s roar shattered the mountains and rivers. On the ancient Huoying star, countless great mountains toppled and crumbled, the entire heaven and earth trembling, on the verge of breaking apart.
He was consumed by unwillingness. He had lived for so long, looking down upon one ancient star domain after another, revered as a god from beyond the stars by those below — and in the end, it had come to this.
Smack!
In response to his roaring and struggling, the old sage was straightforward about it — one swing of the staff struck him across the head, nearly caving in the top of his skull, blood flowing immediately.
The flames had already roared to life, growing hotter by the moment, burning with the force of cultivation and divine power — for what ordinary flame could possibly roast an unrivaled demon sage?
Ye Fan turned and gazed quietly toward the distance, offering a silent tribute to the classmates who had perished. It was on this ancient star that half of them had once lost their lives.
“So even you have a day like this, great crocodile!” He declared coldly, his voice sharp with fury.
The Ancestral Crocodile was nearly spent — nearly being roasted alive. Every time he struggled, a great blow from the staff followed, leaving him utterly weakened. He revealed his true form: eyes like red lanterns, terrifyingly fierce.
Now his divine crocodile body was on full display — as large as a mountain, covered head to tail in scales like black gold, with a metallic texture. The staff rang out with a clanging sound each time it struck.
Ye Fan could not help but sigh as well. The Ancestral Crocodile had truly met with the worst luck imaginable. Having encountered someone as good-tempered as Shakyamuni, the most he would have suffered was suppression. But meeting an old sage with a temper this violent — this was true misery. Not only was he going to be killed, but roasted and eaten afterward.
The Ancestral Crocodile, who was as tall and massive as a mountain, was held in the old sage’s hands as effortlessly as lifting a tiny chick, requiring no effort whatsoever.
Splash!
Waves surged and roared skyward. The primordial sage used his great power to forcibly draw out a surge of water from within the Demon Sea Eye, then boiled out a stretch of clean, pure water, which came pouring down in a rushing stream — he was washing the prey clean.
“Aah!”
The Ancestral Crocodile cried out. He had never imagined a day like this would come — that he was truly on the verge of becoming someone else’s meal. He, a peerless unrivaled demon sage of his generation — what words could even describe this misery?!
The old sage found him too noisy and struck him across the face with a slap. The enormous crocodile jaw was nearly deformed by the blow, and blood immediately streamed from it, with crocodile teeth flying out.
“I have roamed freely throughout my entire life, never defeated by any save Shakyamuni — sweeping all before me, dominating the age! How many of antiquity’s greatest prodigies and heroes lay dead at my feet, and yet I have come to this end — pitiable! Lamentable!” The Ancestral Crocodile wanted to smash his own head against something and die — he simply could not endure it, could not accept an ending like this.
He had traversed the star domains for seven or eight thousand years, journeying to countless ancient star domains across the cosmos — a being of breathtaking brilliance and genius, the supreme sovereign of demons. How else could he have traveled through the universe? Yet in the end, it had all come to nothing!
What did it matter that he had devoured the ancient Buddhas of old? Before this old sage who ate everything without discrimination, no matter how formidable one’s divine abilities — one still became food.
Thud!
At last, with a soft sound, the Ancestral Crocodile was released from his suffering. The Human Demon struck him once and ended his life — smashing his skull apart, and then refining his primordial spirit completely away, leaving nothing behind.
Swish!
The old sage extended a finger, transforming the useful information gathered from the Ancestral Crocodile into a beam of light that he pressed into his own brow. His expression shifted dramatically — for he now understood how many years had truly passed.
The sea had turned to mulberry fields. Over a million years of time had rolled quietly by. The primordial era was long gone, and the entire world had changed beyond recognition.
Splatter!
What followed was a somewhat grisly scene. The old sage treated the whole affair the way one would treat a wild beast caught in the mountains — he set to work personally, skinning the legendary divine crocodile of his generation.
The blood and flesh glowed with light. Life essence overflowed in all directions, overwhelming and intense. Though the lower half had been pounded into a mass of pulp, the upper half was still as large as a small mountain — enormous in volume.
The old sage tore off a piece of choice meat weighing a thousand jin, shimmering with resplendent divine radiance — for this was the sacred flesh of a demon sage, possessing a power that transcended the mundane world.
Using the clear water drawn up from the Sea Eye, the old sage washed the meat thoroughly, then roasted it with his Dao flame. The flesh steamed and glowed with all the colors of the spectrum, and a fragrance drifted out that was utterly intoxicating, enough to make one’s mouth water uncontrollably.
After a long time, the aroma of roasting meat had drifted outward for several tens of miles. The old sage waved at Ye Fan once again, beckoning him over — the divine crocodile meat was ready.
Ye Fan shook his head and waved his hands vigorously. Truthfully, he was a little unnerved. The old sage was too outrageous — having roasted a legendary demon sage of his generation, news of this would shake the very heavens if it got out!
The primordial sage insisted he come over to share the meal. The meat was golden-brown and glistening, with five-colored divine light periodically rising from it — one look told you it was an extraordinary tonic. He imagined it was close to rivaling the legendary dragon meat.
“Senior, I really don’t dare eat this. A single drop of a sage’s blood can kill a great powerful expert — a piece of meat this size could kill me a thousand or ten thousand times over!” Ye Fan said with a pained expression.
Truthfully, he did want to try it. This was, after all, the sacred spiritual flesh of a demon sage — for most people, this was practically no different from the flesh of a divine being.
But he was well aware of just how terrifying the might of a sage was — even the recently fallen demon ancestor was not something an ordinary person could dare to violate.
The old sage scratched his head, looking utterly earnest and simple-natured, and gestured to him — the demon sage’s meat had been refined by him, and could be eaten. There would be no problems at all.
“Really?” Ye Fan drew closer. This aroma had a unique kind of appeal to it — a spirituality all its own. Even the fragrance itself carried a divine radiance, mysteriously magnificent and radiant beyond words.
The primordial sage nodded, informing him that this was the most exquisite flavor in all the world, and that he could eat without any worry. While he said it, he tore off a dozen or so jin and began chewing great mouthfuls.
Divine radiance flowed freely from the golden, tender meat, one ray of rosy light after another — a dazzling, resplendent kaleidoscope of color.
Ye Fan tore off about two liang of meat — quite restrained compared to the old sage. He didn’t dare to start biting down immediately — he was genuinely worried about breaking his own teeth.
As it turned out, his worry was entirely unnecessary. The old sage had truly used his Dao flame to refine away all of the Ancestral Crocodile’s vital essence and spiritual power. The meat was tender, fragrant, and smooth — it melted in the mouth and dissolved into streams of light within his body.
In that moment, every single pore on his body opened wide, expelling refined essence outward, as light and divine power surged in waves.
Ye Fan nearly launched himself into the sky. The demon sage’s meat truly surpassed the mundane. It possessed an unfathomable power — he felt full of energy, his entire body infused with a strength that seemed inexhaustible.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this would absolutely be sacred flesh!
And that was precisely what it was. From ancient times to now — who had ever been able to eat the flesh of a demon sage? Especially at his level of cultivation — it was unthinkable!
Especially in the current age, when even a living demon sage was nearly impossible to find.
Setting all that aside — even in the primordial era, how many people could have hunted and killed a demon sage purely as food? Most likely only this old sage was capable of such a thing!
This was, for all intents and purposes, sacred flesh. For cultivators, it was a profound tonic. Consumed over time, it could not only strengthen muscle and bone, but even cleanse and remold the marrow, and ultimately lead to a complete rebirth.
Once he was certain the old sage had roasted the meat thoroughly enough with his Dao flame, Ye Fan let himself go and took out a dozen or so jars of fine aged wine, sitting down with this wild-man elder to eat great chunks of meat and drink great bowls of wine.
Though they had only one ingredient, it was the most delicious and rare thing Ye Fan had ever eaten in his life — immensely satisfying and enjoyable. As he ate, he felt a surging wave of sacred power within himself, and one after another, rays of divine light flowed out through his pores. He felt as though he was on the verge of ascending in a mist of colored clouds.
Ye Fan was submerged in auspicious radiance, five-colored divine mist rising from him head to toe. He had never imagined that a single meal could be this nourishing — it truly felt as though he was about to ascend to immortality, his body entirely at ease, light and ethereal, as though floating.
Divine power surged like rivers and seas, and without realizing it, his cultivation deepened somewhat. His Immortal Level Two had reached its peak of perfection — it could not be any more complete. All that separated him from the next realm was a thin sheet of paper, and one piercing through would bring him to an entirely different level.
His physical body underwent a baptism as well. Every inch of flesh and blood was filled with an explosive force. Ye Fan felt as though he could shatter a star with a single punch, as though he had strength he could never exhaust.
When he realized this, he knew it had gone too far — he could not eat any more. Having consumed a dozen or more jin of that meat glowing with rosy light, he had already reached his limit. Any more and his body might burst open.
Only then did he realize how terrifying the old sage was — like a whirlwind sweeping the clouds away, the thousand-jin portion of crocodile meat was devoured cleanly, and then he proceeded to cut several thousand more jin, firing up the Dao flame to begin roasting again.
Ye Fan’s vision swam. This was not donkey meat or chicken — this was the flesh of a demon sage. He had eaten this much and seemed completely fine, treating it like ordinary food. It was as if no one in this entire star domain could match him.
Right at that moment, a surge of heat flared up and Ye Fan found his nose was bleeding. A dozen or so jin of demon sage flesh was already more than he could quite handle — the nourishment was excessive. Had any other figure of the religious leader level eaten this much, they would most likely already have exploded in a rain of flesh.
He sprang to his feet with a whoosh and began running laps around the Demon Sea Eye, covering thousands of miles in a single breath. That finally made him feel a bit more settled.
Ye Fan did not stop — he kept running, until a full hour had passed before he returned. What greeted him left him utterly stupefied.
The divine crocodile’s body, which had been as large as a small mountain — a great chunk of it was gone. By his estimate, the missing portion weighed tens of thousands of jin, and all of it had gone into the old sage’s stomach.
And he was not done. He carved off several more thousand jin of meat and continued roasting. Divine light steamed and swirled in all directions, and before long it was all devoured once more — and only then did he wipe his mouth and stop.
Though a primordial sage could hold a Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed, this method of eating was still terrifying. The sheer volume of vital energy in that demon sage flesh was enough to tear apart mountains and rivers!
What kind of stomach capacity could this possibly be, to digest such an immense flood of vital energy? Even a true dragon would surely be about to burst!
The Ancestral Crocodile was a treasure from head to tail — surely it couldn’t all be eaten by the old sage? At the very least, some sage weapons should be forged from it, and even just this spiritual flesh, if consumed sparingly, would serve as a life-saving supreme tonic! Ye Fan felt something close to the urge to tear his hair out, and at the same time, he had many questions he wanted to put to this wild-man elder.