“Ha ha…” The celestial lord’s laughter was cruel and cold. His thick black hair hung loose, his gaze unsettlingly strange as he departed without looking back.

In his view, Ye Fan was already a dead man — there was simply no way out. Even a half-sage trapped within that formation could not escape; for that was the power of an ancient sage, matchless in the world!

He moved in steps of dozens of li, racing through the sea at peak speed. His immensely powerful divine sense swept outward — every blade of grass and every tree in this stretch of heaven and earth was mapped in his mind, nothing concealed from him. He chased off in one direction.

When Ye Fan had been drawing near the ancient Dragon Palace, the celestial lord had, in order to avoid suspicion, genuinely departed and had not dared to extend his divine sense outward. But in this brief span of time, he was confident that no one could escape his grasp — he would find them.

“Even if you are a Dragon Horse, it will not help you — for I have mastered the Divine Light Escape. My speed surpasses even yours!” The celestial lord of Penglai laughed coldly.

He was a person who had survived from the age of high antiquity. In those years, Penglai had been frequented by many sages. He had received a great stroke of fortune and obtained the supreme secret arts of a remotely ancient sage-king.

The Divine Light Escape — heralded as the ultimate of all mysterious arts. It was said that, apart from the Step Word Art, it was the greatest speed art in existence. Now that the Nine Secrets had been lost for many years and could no longer be found, the Divine Light Escape had come to be regarded as the most prized secret art in movement technique.

“The sea domain of Penglai is protected by ancient formation arrays — passing through them will not be so easy for you.”

The celestial lord’s expression was cold, a thread of killing intent at the corner of his mouth. He sensed the trajectory of Long Ma’s movement, and transformed into a streak of divine light in pursuit.

At last, several hundred li away, he spotted a streak of fire spreading across the surface of the sea like a great road — Long Ma walking leisurely along.

The smile on the celestial lord’s face deepened. Long Ma was entirely at ease and in no hurry to leave. With Ye Fan’s several disciples tucked inside, it was “strolling” through the ocean — unhurried, without a care.

He let out a clear cry, and in that instant the entire sea domain surged back in a flood against the nine heavens. In a vast, endless expanse, it began to boil — a tsunami erupted, the churning waves thundering like an explosion, an utterly terrifying scene.

Long Ma’s divine sense was formidably powerful and had sensed the danger coming from the very first moment. It let out a long cry — the sound of a dragon’s call splitting the sky — its whole body roaring with flame. It swept up Yan Xiaoyu and the others entirely and charged forward.

Boom!

The celestial lord of Penglai brought one enormous black hand crashing down, shattering the vault of the heavens. The vast ocean below instantly evaporated — several thousand meters of water vaporized into nothing, the seafloor exposed, the sheer power of it inconceivable.

Rumble…

The surrounding waters rushed in to fill the space, waves stretching in all directions, swiftly burying the ocean trench beneath, returning this place to a world of water.

Long Ma stood on the distant sea surface, white smoke blasting from its nostrils — clearly in a towering fury. Huang Tiannü, Zhan Yifan, and the others had gone white-faced. A casual strike from a great master of full completion was already this terrifying. Who in this world could possibly stand against it?

One could only imagine — if the celestial lord of Penglai were to give his all, he could evaporate the entire ocean. The sea drying and the stones cracking would become reality!

Moving mountains and reversing oceans were mere minor arts compared to this man. Against him, they could not begin to compare. According to legend, a great master of full completion was a lord of the highest order even in the age of high antiquity.

“Celestial lord, what is the meaning of this?” Zhang Qingyang asked. These many years had made him ever more composed — during his travels preaching the Dao across the land, he himself had undergone a form of cleansing and truly carried the bearing of a celestial master now.

In this situation, he understood things were very bad. A great master of full completion could sweep through this ancient star. For now, his only option was to stall, to buy as much time as possible — and wait for Ye Fan to return.

The celestial lord of Penglai’s face was full of cold contempt, in stark contrast to his earlier warmth. A thread of disdain in his expression, he said, “What are a few juniors like you doing questioning me? Even a god couldn’t save you now!”

“Celestial lord — for someone of your standing, being welcoming one moment and turning hostile the next falls far beneath your dignity, and makes you look rather like a petty man.” Zhang Qingyang’s expression remained placid. “Having reached this level of cultivation — if you were truly a person of character, you should fight my master in a fair and open battle. Resorting to such underhanded methods — what does that make you?”

“This lord dispatches a great enemy without lifting a finger, and calls it a method of elimination. I don’t deign to waste words on juniors like you.” The celestial lord of Penglai wore a coldly cruel smile, dismissing Zhang Qingyang entirely. In his eyes at this moment, only Long Ma was worth engaging — this auspicious beast alone merited his effort.

“You treacherous scoundrel — what else do you have besides tricks that can’t bear the light of day? Come on then. This one will stomp your face into full bloom and show you what radiant means.” Long Ma looked at him sideways, deeply displeased.

The celestial lord snorted coldly. Of all the things his standing had led him to encounter over the years, nothing had prepared him for this “half-crazed” beast. This Dragon Horse was nothing like what he had imagined — not one shred of the bearing befitting an ancient sage-emperor’s mount.

Killing formations roared to the heavens on all sides. News had reached Penglai, and seeing the celestial lord act — having nearly evaporated the entire ocean — the sect master led a great army surging forward, banners rippling and iron cavalry blanketing the sea surface in a great black mass.

“I’d like to see where you run now!” Among the crowd, the lesser celestial lord was nearly bursting with fury, veins throbbing at his temples, his eyes blazing with rage as he glared at Zhang Qingyang, Huang Tiannü, and the others.

“Not one of them is to be spared — kill them all!” Penglai’s sect master issued the command. The great army closed in, cutting off their escape routes, surrounding Ye Fan’s several disciples.

Long Ma’s whole body flickered with red-gold scales, flames dancing and surging. It transformed into a streak of fire and charged forward — hooves striking through the sky, the sea drying and the heavens splitting in its wake — driving straight for the celestial lord.

Boom!

The celestial lord of Penglai formed a Dao seal with his hands and sent a beam of demonic light flying out. The laws and order of heaven and earth blanketed the sky, throwing Long Ma backward and sending its body into violent trembling.

“This lord treasures you as a Dragon Horse — a rare auspicious beast not seen in ages in heaven and earth. I am loath to destroy you. Would you be willing to follow me and become my mount?” The celestial lord of Penglai’s eyes held their uncanny quality, his thick black hair moving in the wind as he stood calmly on the sea’s surface.

“This dragon will stomp your face full of pockmarks before this is over. Go take a look at a mirror first. I wouldn’t take you as my mount even if you came crawling to me begging for the position!”

From nearby, Long Que spoke in an icy, clipped tone. “Only the sage-emperors of high antiquity were worthy to ride a Dragon Horse as a mount. On what grounds do you presume to dream of riding one? Are you not afraid of drawing down lightning?”

The people of Penglai were enraged. Many voices shouted in protest, declaring no one could speak with such disrespect toward the celestial lord — and furthermore pointing out that even Ye Fan could possess a Dragon Horse, so why should the celestial lord not be equally capable?

“My master gets struck by lightning on a regular basis and handles it just fine. Can your celestial lord say the same?” And yet even in this kind of moment, Huang Tiannü managed to smile as she said it.

The other disciples were all speechless — especially Little Pine, who scratched his head, because his master had indeed once said that ever since he began cultivating, he had been struck by lightning all the way through.

“This Heavenly Court — from this day forward, I declare it struck from all records! Let it never exist again!” The sect master of Penglai issued his command, intending to kill everyone present.

The lesser celestial master grew even colder with contempt. “What Heavenly Emperor — now he’s a ghost. On that day I burned his divine statue, and now my ancestor has set a trap to refine him into ashes and dust. He is nothing at all!”

Wei Yu and the others burned with fury. There was no other option now but to fight — yet they did not believe Ye Fan had died. They were certain no one in this world could harm him.

“I will ask one more time: are you willing to serve as my mount? Only by agreeing will your life be spared.” The celestial lord of Penglai asked.

Long Ma reared up on its hind legs and answered with a pair of basin-sized hooves directly to his celestial gate, and the great battle erupted.

“Though you are a heaven-born rare creature, with bloodline paramount among all on this earth — compared to this great lord, a great master of full completion, you are ultimately still not enough.” The celestial lord of Penglai’s spiritual power was like a boundless ocean, pressing down in pure domination. Holding the five-colored sacred tree, he swept it forward.

Long Ma let out a long cry. The Cauldron of All Things appeared above its head, dropping down ten thousand silken strands to protect it. At the same time it opened its mouth and spat out a beam of dark light — the black arrow — meeting the five-colored sacred tree head-on.

In the same tier, Long Ma was virtually unrivaled. But the opponent was nonetheless a great master of full completion — standing nearly at the absolute pinnacle. To battle a figure like this was extraordinarily difficult.

“Wretched beast — death is upon you and still you won’t submit! Let this sovereign show you how to take you in!” The celestial lord of Penglai’s spiritual power was like a sea, dark radiance blazing from his entire body. Like a demonic embryo, he reigned supreme, his gaze cold as ice, filled with killing intent — ruthless and heartless.

An intense battle erupted. The sea in all four directions roiled and boiled, forcing everyone to retreat. A battle between kings was the most terrifying sight of all — the faces of every onlooker drained of all color.

Long Ma used the Cauldron of All Things to shield its body and the black arrow to block the five-colored sacred tree — yet between the two, there was a gap of several small realms. The gap was immense. And yet, precisely because of Long Ma’s innate gifts, had it been any other Dao-severance cultivator of the same level facing a great master of full completion, the outcome would have been annihilation in a single blow — reduced to ashes.

It raised its head and howled at the sky, its cry filled with fury. Its four hooves stamped and pounded, shattering the vault of heaven — an earth-shaking sight, as though the end of the world itself had arrived.

Yan Xiaoyu and the others were frantic with anxiety. The situation was perilous — as long as Long Ma was subdued, all of them were doomed beyond any doubt.

“Our master will certainly come. Your triumph can only last a moment.” Zhan Yifan said.

“He is already a dead man — he will never have the chance. The sealed ground will become his tomb. There, he is less than even a worm.” The celestial lord of Penglai said coldly, his eyes full of cruelty and contempt.

“What?!”

Zhang Qingyang and the others all froze. A living sage, even one that had been sealed away, was incomparably fearsome. In the present age, an ancient sage was an existence on the level of a divine being!

“He is already a dead man. I will not bother to reckon with him any further.” The celestial lord of Penglai wore a mocking expression, utterly unconcerned — as though everything were already in his grasp.

Then — a sudden upheaval!

At the moment when Long Ma and the celestial lord were locked in close combat, the Cauldron of All Things erupted with blood and vital energy that surged to the sky. Golden radiance submerged the entire sea domain, and a towering, imposing figure burst forth — a fist slamming forward in a killing blow.

It all happened too fast. Too fast to be believed, beyond anyone’s imagination. Even the celestial lord of Penglai, who had cultivated the Divine Light Escape, could not respond — at this close a distance, there was no room to dodge.

“Master!” Zhan Yifan, Yan Xiaoyu, and the others cried out.

Ye Fan moved like a flood dragon, his entire body as though cast from gold, his battle energy surging across the four seas. His feet carried the Step Word Art — in a flash of electric fire and sparks, he was already upon the celestial lord of Penglai in close quarters!

His black hair streaming behind him, his eyes blazing with cold lightning — like a demonic god — he launched a killing blow without preamble. The Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist erupted and collided with both of the celestial lord of Penglai’s palms.

In that instant, divine power shook the four seas. The air in this heaven and earth was saturated with water vapor, the great ocean completely evaporated — and both of the celestial lord’s bare palms were instantly rendered to bloody pulp, bones ground to fragments.

In this age, no one could match the Holy Body of the human race in close-quarters combat!

“You…” The celestial lord of Penglai was utterly dumbstruck. He had watched with his own eyes as Ye Fan entered the absolute ground, had personally activated the ancient formation — the enemy’s death had been certain. How had he suddenly appeared before him now?

Ye Fan blazed in radiant glory, his body like a divine gold vessel of jade, treasure light blazing in all directions. He spread wide his arms and stretched his legs, his black hair flying, his gaze piercing — like a war god, unstoppable!

Even with his immense power, the celestial lord of Penglai could not withstand this. In close-quarters combat, even a great master of full completion fell short. In the blink of an eye, one of his arms had been torn clean off — blood pouring out in rivulets — and he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a muffled groan. It was utterly brutal.

“What is happening?” Everyone in the Penglai immortal sect was stunned. Every last person froze. How could this sudden reversal have occurred? It was beyond belief.

“I understand now.” Huang Tiannü exclaimed, realization dawning. “Master comprehended the Wondrous Art of One Qi Transforming into Three Purities at Zhongnan Mountain and cultivated a Dao Self. The one who entered the ancient formation was not his true body.”

The others all understood at once, finally grasping why Ye Fan had handed the Cauldron of All Things to Long Ma before entering the crystal palace. He should by rights have taken it inside as protection — yet as it turned out, it had left together with them, never manifesting outwardly, always following in secret.

“Ahhh…”

A scream erupted from the battlefield. The people of the Penglai sect felt their gall and liver splitting — every one of them frightened to the point where the hair stood on end, their bodies shaking uncontrollably.

At the center of the field, Ye Fan’s black hair was disheveled, his eyes sharp as blades. He seized the celestial lord of Penglai by both legs and tore the man’s living body apart on the spot — a single human form split into two halves, blood dyeing the ocean red!

In close-quarters combat, who could stand against him? Matchless in the world — the celestial lord of Penglai had naturally come to grief.

Hiss!

A fist-sized black humanoid figure burst from the split-open brow of the celestial lord, transforming into a streak of dark light that fled toward the sky.

“You think you’re leaving?” Ye Fan’s voice was cold and without mercy. “Today, the Penglai immortal sect will be struck from all records. This place will become the undying foundation of my Heavenly Court lineage!” He cast aside the two halves of the body and gave chase.

Everyone trembled. The reversal had come so fast it exceeded all their expectations. Ye Fan’s close-quarters battle with the celestial lord — like an ancient god of war, unstoppable, blood still on his hands — made him appear divine and awe-inspiring in his might.

The people of Penglai were completely stricken with cold dread. Sensing that catastrophe was upon them, even the celestial lord had come to this kind of end — how could they possibly resist? The lesser celestial lord’s face went white on the spot, sick with belated terror.

Ye Fan transformed into a bolt of lightning in pursuit of the small black primordial spirit figure, unwilling to let it escape.

“I’ll stomp on your lungs!” Long Ma charged forward at a gallop, stamping down upon the celestial lord’s body — which had been split in two — for it had discovered the flesh was trying to reconstitute itself and merge back together.

Thud!

A pitiable end for the celestial lord of Penglai. Just as the flesh began to mend, Long Ma’s basin-sized hoof came crashing down upon him where he lay on the sea surface — blood and flesh mingled in ruin, bones snapped and sinews broken, the last chance to reconstitute the physical body gone. Long Ma had said it would do it, and it did — the celestial lord’s lung fragments were stomped into ruin, the entire body reduced to a bloody mire, cast as feed for the fish.

A great master of full completion had thus been robbed of his most precious asset — his physical form. All his boundless spiritual power had been rendered unable to manifest, and now the small black figure fled like a stray dog that had lost its home.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Long Ma joined in the hunt for the celestial lord, transforming into a streak of fire in pursuit. The fist-sized black figure was filled with venomous hatred and bitter unwillingness, fighting back with all its remaining strength.

Ye Fan was unhurried. He descended onto Long Ma’s back, the black dragon lance obtained from Kunlun in hand. Rider and steed became one, transforming into blazing brilliance that charged forward — and with a single clean thrust, pierced the small black figure on the tip of the lance. A shrill, bitter scream rang out through the sky.

“Before I enter the starry expanse, you will cede this entire Penglai to me — my thanks for the gift. The Heavenly Court will flourish greatly here!” Ye Fan’s words spread throughout the entire sea domain.

Unrivaled beneath the stars!

Ye Fan’s several disciples were overcome with elation — that was their first and most overwhelming feeling. While the people of Penglai were ashen-faced, all the color drained from their features.