The divine knight was different from the others. His display was beyond expectation — a single spear strike shattering the void, striking upward into the high heavens, holding back the Pope’s all-encompassing great hand.

Everyone was somewhat bewildered. The Vatican people in particular were in an uproar — they had never imagined the mightiest under the western sky would act in such a way.

The Pope paused momentarily, his expression serene, without any visible reaction. He withdrew that crystalline great hand that had blanketed the sky and sat composed upon the stone chair engraved with the cross. His eyes were like the sea — not a ripple of emotion could be read from them.

A cold smile played at the corner of Ye Fan’s mouth. He said nothing. The Pope was an extremely dangerous figure — and yet the divine knight was by nature honorable and upright, unwilling to proceed in such a manner.

“Fight again!”

The divine knight was one with the Dao — his body resting within the void, leaning upon his spear. His entire being radiated a sharpness that was supreme beneath all heaven. His entire person had transformed into a divine spear — killing intent permeating all nine heavens.

HUM!

He came charging forward, spear in hand — a single forceful shake and tens of thousands of spear-shadows appeared. Every single one was real. The tip of the spear’s vibration was simply too rapid, splitting open a vast expanse of the heavenly vault.

Everything in its path was cleaved and shattered — destroying all, stopping at nothing. A single spear strike sent mountains and rivers into motion. Nothing could withstand it — unparalleled sharpness penetrating everything that had physical form.

BANG!

Ye Fan swung his fist. In the entire world, only he dared receive the divine knight’s spear head-on. Sparks flew in all directions. His golden fist struck horizontally against the spear shaft, sending heaven crashing and earth splitting, making demons wail and gods weep.

Between the two of them erupted wave after wave of terrifying force — slicing through the void, opening endless abysses in space. Some of the cracks spread outward for hundreds of miles.

Their fierce battle was incomparably intense. The eyes of the spectators could no longer keep pace — they saw only two beams of light clashing, every impact like a comet striking the earth.

Hsss—

Another spear thrust came forward, its sharpness fully revealed. At the very tip of this earth-shaking spear stood a divine being — hands folded behind its back, looking disdainfully down upon all below, bearing down cold upon Ye Fan. Opening its mouth in a long roar, a river of stars came plunging down — white, hazy waves of energy, endless and boundless. These were the traces of the great Dao.

Ye Fan resisted. His left hand formed the moon seal — a full moon appeared in his palm, blocking the unparalleled dragon spear in defense. His right hand formed the great sun seal — a divine sun blazing like a furnace erupted, shattering the vast Dao-waves in a strike devoted entirely to assault!

Rumble—Rumble!

At the far edge of the heavens, the two grappled — Dao-waves shaking the ancestral mountain ridges. Every ancient formation activated. All fifty sacred peaks lit up brightly, countless patterns interweaving, the formations of ancient sages roaring.

Ye Fan battled the divine knight. Both displayed their techniques to the fullest — their secret arts were beyond the imagination, dazzling to behold, an exchange not only of divine power and magical energy, but of Dao cultivation itself.

Every time the dragon spear emerged, the terrifying spectacle of mountains and rivers collapsing followed. The divine being standing at the spear’s tip burned with blazing eyes, devastating everything in its path. Any ordinary person facing this would be unable to resist for even a moment — instantly reduced to dust.

Ye Fan manifested celestial hand seals to contend against it, the battle unceasing. The two were as perfectly matched as needle against wheat, their divine aspects shaking nine heavens, each growing fiercer and more ferocious with every exchange, neither willing to retreat.

Ye Fan’s left hand formed the moon seal for defense — that full moon’s radiance was soft and gentle, merging with the spear’s tip and taking hold of it, refusing to release. His right hand formed the sun seal for attack — blazing and searing, he struck a thousand, a hundred times in succession, and finally shattered that divine figure.

BOOM!

Between them erupted a violent surge of force. Both flew backward. Such an earth-shaking exchange caused all fifty sacred peaks to shudder, a gap opening between them — both men were thrown clear through it.

Without question, this was another catastrophe. The divine knight thrust his spear forward — the dozens of great mountains ahead and an expanse of ancient fortresses instantly reduced to dust! A single spear pierced through the void — within a radius of dozens of miles became a heavenly abyss, immeasurably deep. Molten rock from below surged upward, an enormous eruption unleashed.

This was an unimaginable great battle. Those on the outside could scarcely comprehend just how immense their divine power truly was. A casual blow from either of them caused heaven to collapse and earth to sink. For them, this was a genuine battle of gods in every sense.

Ye Fan let out a long roar — golden vital energy surged skyward, vast as an ocean. This force was even more devastating. The Shenhui Family’s people, positioned right in that direction, met with total annihilation — hundreds of knights all perished, both they and their mounts shattering into blood mist and shards of bone, including their clan patriarch. Not a single one survived.

The Pope finally changed expression. Even the fifty sacred peaks were no longer enough to contain the two fighters. If the battlefield continued to spread, this blessed realm, separated from the mortal world, would be destroyed utterly.

BOOM!

He channeled great power. In addition to the fifty sacred mountains, he brought in the Twelve Divine Palaces — built by the twelve disciples devoted to the holy man Jesus, enduring and undying through the ages, suppressing the positions in all directions.

Ye Fan and the divine knight were locked in combat, unable to spare attention for these things. In their eyes there was only the opponent before them. Nothing else existed. Reaching this point in their battle, they were both lost in it entirely.

The divine knight swept his dragon spear horizontally — this time, Dao markings densely covered the shaft, releasing a dazzling light. It transformed into a surging wall of flame — primordial Dao-fire, the expression of his Dao foundations.

Pfft!

Ye Fan opened his mouth and expelled a Dao diagram — densely inscribed with complex patterns. This was primordial Void-Subduing Astral Energy, shaped from a breath of vital essence, inscribed with his Dao. Modeled after the Ji Family’s secret technique in a former time, evolved through the Battle Sage’s methods.

A Dao diagram spread across the sky, clashing with the primordial Dao-fire — the two of them colliding again and again. The Dao-fire was extinguishing, and the diagram’s patterns were growing blurred. They struck each other repeatedly.

BOOM!

The divine knight leveled his spear crosswise, swinging it like a heaven-opening great staff, cleaving the void open. Simultaneously, three thousand miles around froze solid — a white world of ice and snow appeared in an instant, freezing everything within.

This was an extreme temperature — shattering the stones on the ground to powder in an instant, encasing even Ye Fan within it in a moment. This was the expression of Dao mastery brought to its absolute peak.

Just now it was primordial Dao-fire — and in a single instant it became the extreme Yin energy of the absolute Dao. A dual assault, rapidly alternating, seeking to grind Ye Fan into oblivion.

For others, such diametrically opposed Dao arts striking together might destroy a powerful practitioner. However, Ye Fan simultaneously cultivated both the extreme Yin and the extreme Yang — he had no reason to fear.

He swung his fist within the extreme Yin ice soul, shattering the solid ice. His golden palm-blade struck the dragon spear and a sky’s worth of brilliance exploded outward — sending the divine knight flying, a thread of blood escaping the corner of his mouth.

From beginning to now, they had exchanged eight hundred rounds. Ye Fan at last was growing stronger with every fight. In this blow, the divine knight had been wounded — coughing up blood — yet the radiance in his eyes blazed even brighter than before.

BANG!

He shuddered in the void. In a single breath, heaven and earth became densely forested — trees growing and rooting themselves in the void one by one, old vines spreading and weaving, flowers blooming in countless patches.

In an instant, the entire expanse of heaven and earth became teeming with life — green light shimmering, the breath of living things everywhere. The divine knight withdrew all killing intent, merging with heaven and earth and nature.

He blended with the Dao, took nature as his companion, ascending into the realm of the unity of heaven and man. The life energy he emanated nourished all living things within heaven and earth.

In this moment, he slowly raised the dragon spear. He was untainted by the smoke and fire of the world. The divine being at the dragon spear’s end was gone. The blazing divine radiance was gone too. The spear body was dull — without any sheen at all.

And yet — a divine knight without even a trace of killing intent made Ye Fan more wary than before.

This opponent had become calm and natural, utterly transcendent. Clearly without a single shred of murderous intent — and yet Ye Fan felt every muscle in his body tense, a premonition that an earth-shattering blow was about to be born!

All around, not a sound. Silence at its extreme — not a single person spoke, including the Pope, who had risen to his feet. His eyes were resplendent as he stood upon the sacred mountain, looking down at everything below.

The divine knight’s face was cut like white jade — solemn beyond measure. His entire person merged with heaven and earth. He launched a single spear strike untouched by the smoke and fire of the world, without a trace of killing intent — just thrusting forward, plainly.

But in this moment — except for the Pope — nearly every person went limp and collapsed to the ground. This was not divine pressure — it was the vastness of the great Dao!

What he wielded was no longer a dragon spear — it was the Dao itself. As if he had lifted the entire vault of heaven and was bringing it crashing down upon Ye Fan. No holy radiance. No boiling battle-energy. Only this breathtaking single “Dao-spear” thrust!

Ye Fan’s expression became as solemn as it had ever been. His hands moved, though not quickly — no swinging fists, no seals formed. Only a natural motion, leaving behind a trail of Dao. Equally plain and simple — no explosive force, no mystery that pulverizes the void. Natural to the ultimate degree, like an antelope hanging its horns — no traces left to find.

BANG!

Finally, they collided. Between the two of them ripples burst outward — these were sacred waves of the great Dao, spreading swiftly in all directions. The fifty sacred peaks and the Twelve Divine Palaces rang without stopping, all blazing with light — thousands upon thousands of sword energies roaring. Except for the Pope, every person collapsed limp upon the ground.

Ye Fan and the divine knight, untouched by any worldly fire, seemed to have returned to the original natural state. Their movements were not fast — yet every blow was world-shaking, each one more powerful than the last.

In the end, Ye Fan changed. He no longer followed the track of the Dao — he began to break through the Dao. He grew sharp and fierce. Golden vital energy spread around him, his entire person commanding the pressure of all nine heavens and ten earths, his eyes radiating an incomparable, awe-inspiring blaze.

With the Dao, without the Dao. Within the Dao, beyond the Dao. All was a single thought!

BOOM!

He trampled all the Dao markings filling the sky beneath his feet. In this moment, he no longer followed the law — stepping beyond his original Dao, like an unruly Battle Sage above all laws, sweeping all before him. Nothing could stop him.

Ye Fan attacked continuously — clashing again and again with that dragon spear. He stepped upon the Dao markings of heaven and earth, stood with head high, looked down upon the world, battled the divine knight. No fixed laws, the Dao broken and reborn.

Golden palm-blade and fists descended again and again, colliding in succession with that dragon spear untouched by the world’s fire and without a trace of killing intent — each collision ringing out a metallic note. Golden vital energy spread across the entire field.

His will was harder than iron — unbowed through a hundred battles. He sought to cut a Dao unlike any other. The first signs had now appeared — he did not submit to the great Dao of heaven and earth, pressing forward without hesitation.

Over a thousand rounds passed. Ye Fan’s left hand became a palm, his right hand a fist — striking continuously against the dragon spear, unleashing his own terrifying Dao-force, carrying within it an indomitable will. The divine knight could no longer hold on at last. Though he had returned to simplicity and merged with heaven and earth and nature, in this moment he still suffered devastating damage, and could no longer sustain it.

Ye Fan’s unparalleled Dao-force transmitted through the dragon spear directly into his body — terrifying without bound, and even his ocean-like power could not block it.

Pfft!

The divine knight coughed up a great mouthful of blood, dense cracks spreading across his entire body. He flew backward a dozen or more miles, crashing into an undying sacred mountain and leaving a blood-stained human-shaped imprint behind.

All fifty sacred peaks shook in unison. The Twelve Divine Palaces rang and trembled together. The voices of ancient sages reciting sutras rose and fell one after another, echoing down from across the ages of history — deafening.

The divine knight stepped out from the human-shaped hollow in the rock and said softly: “I have lost.”

He descended from the sacred mountain, stood upon the battle-scarred and devastated earth, planted his dragon spear into the ground with a metallic ring, and sat cross-legged there — still and unmoving. The powerful life-force within him began to disperse.

The divine knight still possessed the strength for another battle. If he continued, hundreds more rounds would pass before life or death was decided. But he had withdrawn — scattering his battle-energy of his own accord. His life was approaching its end.

“Defeated — the mightiest beneath the starry sky has been defeated by the demon from the Central Plains!”

“Antiquity is long past — the sole divine knight of the Western lands once slew gods, cut down two divine beings alone — and today he has fallen like this…”

The faces of the crowd were ashen. Ye Fan had defeated the mightiest beneath the starry sky — it was as though he had broken something in them. One man running rampant across the Western lands, dissolving the will of every last person!

The Vatican’s holy maiden, the young talents of every great family, and all the great figures — every one was struck dumb. Their faces were written full of astonishment and complexity beyond measure. Not a single one of them could accept this reality.