The palpitation was so intense that his golden sacred blood boiled, blazing fiercely outside his body and incinerating the terrifying red fur on his arms.

Ye Fan’s heart could not settle. The universe was vast, the ancient path long, and yet even on this road, the footprints of a Source Heavenly Master had been left behind?

“Kill!” A Saint King charged forward, a massive bell hanging above his head that released a thunderous roar. Its bell-waves crashed like a tidal surge, swallowing Ye Fan whole.

This was no time to stand in a daze. This battle would shatter heaven and earth. Ye Fan’s dark eyes sharpened like blades as he raised his golden fists and struck with killing force. His fighting spirit bore down upon all creation, and golden rifts spread outward in every direction around him.

A world-shaking slaughter. An unrivaled duel.

The great bell rang out with a resonant peal, its waves rolling forth as though crossing ten thousand ages, carrying with them the divine might of a man who had once carried the Blood of the Sovereign Sky flowing within him. All living things trembled in fear.

The few fragments of the Sovereign Bell embedded in the bell’s body each radiated a streak of divine brilliance — an unmatched, domineering aura, each streak seemingly capable of tearing apart the sun, moon, and stars.

Every time Ye Fan swung his golden fists, those fragments would flare with light, releasing an undying, overwhelming force. The torrential surging of that energy shook the ages and blazed with glory.

It was enough to tear apart a Saint King’s physical body!

Ye Fan’s physique was formidable enough, and above his head the Myriad Phenomena Mother Qi Cauldron rose and fell, emanating all manner of strange phenomena as it contended against the bell, daring to clash head-on with the remnant toll.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek rang out. Every mountain and valley on this ancient star trembled, and many ancient grounds cracked open outright. The sky above became a vast gray expanse, filled with an incomparably wild and primordial aura.

Within the cauldron’s mouth lay a region of absolute chaos — unfathomably deep, impenetrable to the eye. In that very moment, a Roc burst forth from that place, spreading its wings to strike at the heavens and contest the Sovereign Bell.

This was a divine ability. The other powerful members of the Cang Family were so stunned and terrified that they trembled, nearly collapsing to the ground.

It was an image on the wall of the cauldron that had broken through the surface and revealed an astonishing might. Driven by Ye Fan’s urging, the Roc had become as though reborn — as though it had come alive.

“This… this truly is the Myriad Phenomena Source Cauldron.” The Saint King cried out.

The Roc was a legendary immortal spirit creature, never seen in the mortal world. What mankind knew were only impure-blooded descendants such as the Great Golden-Winged Peng and its kind — and even those descendants were fearsome and powerful enough.

Yet now, a great spirit within the cauldron’s chaos had transformed from fish to Roc, unfurling its divine wings across three thousand li as it soared upward, shattering the sky, threatening to cleave through the vast and boundless heavens above.

It launched itself against the Sovereign Bell — unrivaled in its ferocity, devastating in its assault, matchless without equal.

Clang!

The great bell resounded. This fierce bird defied the heavens and crashed against it again and again without relenting. Had it been a true, living creature, it would have surpassed the countless species that had existed since the most ancient of eras.

The Saint King of the Cang Family felt his heart lurch. This cauldron’s laws had only just begun to manifest, and already it was this powerful. The battle prowess of this ancient bird surpassed that of many Saints!

If Ye Fan were to break through, this cauldron would continue to evolve along with him, and one day it would become a weapon of a higher order — and this ancient bird would surely grow more ferocious still.

If that day truly came and the Myriad Phenomena Mother Qi Cauldron transformed into an Emperor Artifact, would the Roc manifest its true form? The mere thought of it was terrifying. The Cang Family Saint King shuddered.

The Roc’s cry shook the heavens; the sky cracked and the earth split.

Each time this fierce bird spread its wings, it spanned tens of thousands of li, threatening to cleave through the nine layers of heaven. Its massive golden wings, like great blades, hacked against the Sovereign Bell and made it ring with deafening sound.

The Saint King who had been activating the various forbidden formation arrays felt his heart seize. Even as he continued to ignite the killing formations, he moved to provide aid and resistance.

Clang!

The Roc stretched across the sky, its pair of enormous talons — as though cast from solid gold — seized the Sovereign Bell and began to tear it apart. Bell-waves rang out without end, surging outward across hundreds of thousands of li.

This battle shook the entire ancient star. The Cang Family had been the foremost power here for over a hundred thousand years, with no one capable of challenging them — and yet now, such a great crisis had erupted.

Many beings nearby watched from a distance, none of them able to suppress the alarm in their hearts.

Crack!

The great bell was torn away in a chunk by this ancient bird — one that had no place in the mortal world — and it was partially damaged. The shock was immeasurable. Infinite bell-waves radiated outward, and the sky fractured inch by inch. Mountains and rivers with no formation arrays to protect them were all reduced to rubble.

“Kill…”

Two Saint Kings of the Cang Family roared. The killing formations and the Sovereign Bell moved together against Ye Fan. They had not anticipated that the Sacred Body of this generation would be so powerful — it made their blood run cold.

To say nothing of other things — the cauldron alone had already exceeded all their expectations.

Beneath Ye Fan’s feet, Source Heavenly veins continually surfaced. The divine formations he had previously laid out were woven together at this location, resonating with him, reshaping mountain and river, harnessing the sun, moon, and stars. Divine radiance poured in a boundless stream from beyond the heavens.

He used his Source Heavenly veins to contend against the various forbidden grand formations of the Cang Family. At this moment, the cauldron above his head trembled again, and an ancient primordial ancestor stepped forth from the cauldron wall, emerging from a sea of chaotic mist.

The primordial ancestor was an unparalleled sage — one who could clash directly against the Sovereign Bell with bare flesh, a body terrifyingly strong. Moreover, streams of chaotic sword energy shot forth from the center of his brow in a divine might that nothing could withstand.

The Sovereign Bell rang out. Each strand of chaotic sword energy shook the heavens and earth, hacking at the bell until it rang with a thunderous roar and shook violently. The sword energy came without end, blocking even the bell-waves and preventing them from spreading outward.

Ye Fan was fighting two Saint Kings simultaneously and holding the upper hand without strain. What he needed to remain vigilant about were the Sovereign Bell fragments, as well as a more pressing concern: the Source Heavenly Master’s catastrophe might descend upon him.

For this reason, when he employed his Source Arts, he could not help but split his attention, fearing that something ominous might occur at this critical juncture.

Boom!

From underground came a deafening sound. Ancient veins crisscrossed and surged upward toward the sky. Both Ye Fan’s Source formations and the Cang Family’s forbidden formation arrays were all dismantled.

It was a dazzling light, accompanied by the trembling of countless dragon veins and the descent of vast starlight from the cosmos — like ten thousand silver waterfalls cascading down, a magnificent and breathtaking spectacle.

Ye Fan’s expression changed instantly. This was unmistakably Source Heavenly veins — and the mastery behind them surpassed his own. What had been altered was not merely the mountain and river terrain; it could even draw upon the celestial river itself.

He had long known that a Source Heavenly Master was not the pinnacle, for back in the Northern Region when he and the Fifth Generation Founding Master had together suppressed the Divine Spirit Valley, Zhang Lin had spoken of these things.

And the astonishing display the Fifth Generation Source Heavenly Founding Master had put on at that time confirmed it all. Zhang Lin had lost himself for ten thousand years, his entire body covered in red fur — yet upon regaining his clarity, he alone had been able to suppress the Ancestral King of an Ancient Clan!

And now, traces of the Source Heavenly Master’s lineage had appeared here, buried deep underground. The veins had reawakened. Starlight and moonlight descended, and the earth’s dragon energy rose in great billowing clouds. Heaven and earth communed in harmony.

Dragons surged and soared together. The sun and moon swayed. The pristine brilliance of starlight and the misty, ethereal dragon energy intermingled — making this stretch of mountain and river both strange and awe-inspiring.

“Ahh…!” The Saint King controlling the forbidden formation array let out a cry. He had been sent flying, gravely wounded, spitting great mouthfuls of blood.

Clang!

The Sovereign Bell rang with a drawn-out peal. It, too, had been struck. The Saint King beneath the bell’s body changed color and retreated with great effort, using the massive bell as a shield. For that location was the outlet of the mysterious force from underground, and he had been the first to bear the brunt of it.

Ye Fan also recalled the Myriad Phenomena Mother Qi Cauldron to shield his body, then charged rapidly toward the distance. He realized that everything had been triggered by his use of Source Arts.

“There is an ancient Source Heavenly formation underground — in what era was it constructed?” He was deeply astonished. The Cang Family had been living here for over a hundred thousand years — how could someone have laid down formations beneath their very ground without them knowing?

In the Eastern Desolation, the era in which the First Generation Founding Master of the Source Heavenly Master lineage had lived might not even extend so far back. Who could have laid this?

“Kill!”

In that instant, Ye Fan did not hesitate for a single moment. He seized the opportunity and charged upward into the high sky, striking to kill his opponents!

The underground veins were terrifyingly powerful, destroying all of the Cang Family’s ancient forbidden formation arrays buried deep within their ancient grounds — a devastating, uprooting obliteration.

The veins crisscrossed and spread into every corner. The two Saint Kings roared in fury. This represented the painstaking labor of how many generations — the formations that had been laid down having consumed untold divine materials, the crystallization of immense toil.

Yet in this single instant, it had all ceased to exist. Above all else, their mountain-sealing ancient formation was also disintegrating, and it made their hearts bleed.

It was a grand formation at the pinnacle of the Great Saint level — though unfortunately, some of its formation patterns had been eroded by the passage of time. Reawakening it required a gradual process of activation. The two Saint Kings had been supremely confident, intending to use it to trap Ye Fan and grind him down — yet now it had been blown apart. The underground veins had spread upward and demolished it completely.

Ye Fan shook his head. He had long since used his unparalleled Source Arts to survey the area thoroughly and knew that a terrifying arrangement existed here. Had the Great Saint formation not been destroyed, he would never have set foot in such a dangerous place.

“Ahh…!”

A scream rang out. The Saint King who had been controlling the formation array, now stripped of the formation patterns’ protection, found himself facing Ye Fan directly — and was subjected to the most devastating combat.

Puu!

Ye Fan executed the Sacred Technique of Battle, and the Supreme Emperor Sword materialized. It cleaved this man at the waist, sending blood raining down. The Dao Sword, like a great dragon cutting across the sky, was supremely sharp — its dragon head held high as though it could sever through the myriad realms of all creation.

Ye Fan stood with sword in hand, and with his second strike descended, cleaving apart the man’s entire physical body. Only a nascent spirit remained, which he reached out and seized.

“You…!” The other Saint King was simultaneously furious and alarmed as he strained to come to the rescue. To be defeated by the Sacred Body and have his ancient grounds broken through was something he found impossible to accept.

Clang!

Ye Fan shook the cauldron and rammed it against the Sovereign Bell. The sound surged through like a flood, boundless and endless, leaving people’s ears ringing.

This man used the Sovereign Bell fragments to resist with all his might — yet it could not change anything. The great bell suddenly cracked of its own accord, and several fragments blazed with intensifying light before flying off into the outer void.

“Oh…?” Ye Fan was startled and moved to intercept with the Myriad Phenomena Mother Qi Cauldron — but failed.

The several Sovereign Bell fragments had independently reawakened. Within them was an undying power of laws that radiated faint, thin strands of Emperor-level might before disappearing into the vast sky.

Puu!

This Saint King was shattered by the Myriad Phenomena Mother Qi Cauldron, his physical body destroyed. His nascent spirit left its housing in an attempt to flee, but it was instantly suppressed by the cauldron and could not move even an inch.

The battle was over. The Cang Family’s ancient grounds had become a scene of devastation — broken walls and crumbled ruins, collapsed mountain peaks, reduced almost to flat earth. Had those formation arrays not been there to protect the area, this place would have been reduced to ashes with nothing left.

After Ye Fan ceased his Source Arts assault, the underground Source formation immediately subsided and ceased its further spreading and encroachment.

All others of the Cang Clan had fled. Even the two Saint Kings had been defeated — how could they dare to fight on? They were simply not on the same level. But Ye Fan also had no desire for a great massacre, and did not pursue or kill those people.

Standing atop the rubble in the ruins, Ye Fan did not immediately venture underground to explore the Source formation. Instead, he observed the nascent spirits of the two Saint Kings, wishing to learn the secrets of the past, and also wanting to see what was particular about the Sovereign Physique.

“The Sacred Body’s mother star has become a dead star…” He fell into a daze. He had not expected that the moment he began probing, he would already learn such a secret.

The rivalry between the Sacred Body and the Bloodline of the Sovereign Sky dated back to a very ancient era — they were natural enemies born to oppose one another, long predating the era of the Northern Dipper Sacred Body. Their conflict extended all the way to the matter of “attaining the Dao.”

Suddenly, from a broken mountain peak ahead, a clear ringing of swords rang out. Ye Fan’s head snapped up and he flew over.

This had been an important location, though it had all been destroyed now. Only a jade jar had survived intact — and at this moment, it developed crack after crack before suddenly shattering.

Strands of purple fresh blood scattered across the rocky surface, brilliant and dazzling, as though composed of divine radiance condensed into form — capable of penetrating the blue stone, domineering beyond measure.

“Blood of the Sovereign Sky…”

Two beams of light shot from Ye Fan’s eyes as he fixed his gaze on that resplendent purple blood, peering into its very origin and capturing strand after strand of the laws of order.

Boom!

Suddenly, a terrifying figure materialized, formed entirely of purple blood — upright in bearing, exuding an overwhelming, domineering air.

“It’s him… it’s actually him!” Two brilliant streaks shot from Ye Fan’s eyes. Before the figure had fully taken form, he already knew who it was.