Clang!

Immortal mist blazed brilliantly, splashing in every direction. The Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron atop Ye Fan’s head was nearly knocked away. His body shook violently, and the Slaughter Sword in his hand swept horizontally, barely managing to block that endless mental force.

The Great Peacock Enlightened King was too strong, simply beyond what mortal strength could match. She fought Ye Fan bare-handed, pressing forward step by step, her divine might overwhelming the world.

With a deep hum, she struck out directly with a palm — white and pristine as jade, yet terrifying beyond words, carrying the endless faith-power of Mount Sumeru as it collided head-on with the imperial artifact.

Ye Fan held his sword horizontally, golden blood surging through his entire body as he pushed his combat power to its absolute limit. The dark red longsword in his hand turned blood-red, streaks of sword light shaking free from it, slashing forward.

The clanging sound never ceased. The Great Peacock Enlightened King’s eyes flashed with an intimidating light, her jade-white palm fused together with condensed faith-power. When it struck down, it shattered even the crystalline sword qi.

Sword energy crisscrossed this place; killing intent swept a hundred thousand miles. The battle reached a boiling point — the two of them were like two balls of light dancing through the air. One wrong step meant blood spilled on the spot, form and spirit both destroyed.

Imperial qi permeated the air!

Ye Fan’s mind and spirit shook. The enemy was too strong, nearly a Quasi-Emperor — truly someone who stood above the world.

The Great Peacock Enlightened King formed a seal with her right hand and swept it upward from below toward Ye Fan’s chest and abdomen, her might astonishing. Ye Fan slashed several streaks of sword light in succession, cutting into that treasured seal before he managed to shake off the mental force.

“BOOM!”

Ye Fan let out a long roar. The longsword in his hand carried the true meaning of the Heavenly Emperor’s Fist, erupting with incomparable radiance. He pressed forward without hesitation, swinging his blade again and again — a full eight strokes, brilliant light like galloping thunder, dimming the sun, moon, and stars themselves.

Such might shook heaven and earth, made ghosts and spirits weep. Countless falling stars beyond the mortal realm exploded into dust; distant asteroids were split apart, reduced to nothing but ash.

And yet, even so powerful an assault was blocked by the Great Peacock Enlightened King. Her flawless white hands swung the mental force of Sumeru, striking palm after palm, forcing Ye Fan to retreat.

The Great Peacock’s might pressed down through nine heavens, her divine bearing intimidating, supreme in strength and grandeur. She soared above the world, her gaze ringing like clashing sword-light, growing fiercer the longer she fought.

Ye Fan’s expression turned grave as he fought back with everything he had.

The battlefield was far from Mount Sumeru, deep within the vast sky. The Great Peacock Enlightened King had only borrowed a portion of the faith-power, not the entirety of Mount Sumeru’s — otherwise Ye Fan would surely have been in mortal danger.

Sumeru’s mental force blanketed the heavens; if it were fully applied to her, it would be like wearing a complete imperial robe — an accumulation and distillation of countless ages, as if every eminent monk of the Buddhist faith stood behind her within the Great Thunder Sound Temple, innately undefeatable, unrivaled under heaven.

Mount Sumeru was too tall, said to reach eighty-four thousand yojanas in height. Though this was exaggeration, it was not without reason — it soared into the boundless heavens, piercing beyond the mortal realm, surrounded by countless small planets.

The battle between the two grew ever more intense, but Ye Fan kept retreating, going deeper into the starry void, away from the main mountain, in order to weaken Sumeru’s mental force influence upon the battle.

Without question, if the Great Peacock Enlightened King had been standing on Mount Sumeru itself, Ye Fan would have had no chance at all — that would be equivalent to a being on the verge of Quasi-Emperor wielding a flawless imperial artifact to bombard him to death.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Princess Shencan led her forces in an all-out assault on Mount Sumeru, even more fierce than before. She wore her flawless imperial robe, nine-colored immortal mist dancing about her body, clashing head-on with Mount Sumeru!

At that moment, the old monk Moke, a Great Sage, glowed all over. Holding the weapon of the Amitabha Great Emperor — the Demon-Subduing Pestle — he launched the most ferocious counterattack.

Battle cries shook the heavens. Mount Sumeru showed no weakness — golden-bodied arhats, bodhisattvas, ancient buddhas all struck out at once, taking the initiative against Ye Tong, Dongfang Ye, the Divine Knight, and the others.

The Ji Family, the Heavenly Demon Palace, and the Great Xia Dynasty had also all joined the battle; the people of Shencan Ridge were fighting as well. This place was shattering to its core, divine light surging into the sky, utterly terrifying.

For all these years, Mount Sumeru had remained calm, at most enduring internal doctrinal disputes within the Buddhist faith. But now, countless powerful enemies and a massive invading army — something rarely seen since ancient times.

Ye Fan glanced once at the other battlefield and wasn’t overly worried about it. Rather, he himself faced a great crisis here — the Buddhist faith wanted to settle him first in this battle, and only then would the Great Peacock Enlightened King turn back to deal with the far more troublesome Princess Shencan.

Over all these years, few had ever dared to regard him as weak. Yet now he was experiencing exactly that — his opponent intended to kill him first, treating him as prey.

A trace of cold indifference crossed the corner of Ye Fan’s mouth. He did not dare be careless, yet he also felt no fear. Stepping into the Word of Travel, he shot straight into the dark firmament above, appearing even farther from Mount Sumeru.

The Great Peacock Enlightened King let out a clear cry. Below, Mount Sumeru rumbled in response, endless mental force surging skyward, following her out beyond the mortal realm, shaking countless small planets.

Though the mental force had weakened somewhat, it still let her remain overwhelmingly powerful, killing intent surging, intimidating the mortal world.

“Hmm!”

The golden crown atop the Great Peacock King’s head emitted boundless Buddha-light, waves of chanting rising as if three thousand Buddhas were reciting sutras, a sound that could deafen the ears.

Upon the golden crown were carved images, lifelike and vivid — precisely depicting the Buddha’s Path to Enlightenment, containing the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, holding the secret to becoming an Emperor.

This was a terrifying dharma treasure, the Great Peacock Enlightened King’s strongest weapon. When it took flight now, carrying Sumeru’s power of faith, it drowned heaven and earth.

The Dao artifact was too terrifying — faintly, it seemed a Buddha had stepped forth from it, one hand pointing to the sky, the other to the earth, reciting the true sutras, proclaiming himself the sole reverence, intent on suppressing Ye Fan.

Sumeru’s boundless Buddha-power surged forward like an ocean in that instant, hardly diminished despite the great distance — especially once this artifact appeared, making the Buddha-power far easier to command for her own use.

The Great Peacock Enlightened King’s might pressed down through the nine heavens and ten earths, a trace of a cold smile crossing her lips as she stared fixedly at Ye Fan, then glanced once at Princess Shencan.

Ye Fan retreated again, wielding his dark red Slaughter Sword defensively.

The Great Peacock Enlightened King grew ever more dominant, Buddha-light radiating from her entire body. Elegant and noble, her golden crown crushing down through the ages, she closed in relentlessly, suppressing everything beneath a sea of Sumeru’s mental force.

At the same moment, she removed an armlet, translucent and gleaming, comparable to a vajra treasure, shattering the high heavens. Carrying the power of faith, it destroyed endless falling stars as it shot straight toward Ye Fan.

The situation reached its most critical moment. The Great Peacock Enlightened King launched a thunderous assault, wanting to finish off Ye Fan quickly, since she too did not wish to stray too far from Mount Sumeru — the mental force would diminish the greater the distance grew.

Suddenly, Ye Fan withdrew the Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron. A rust-mottled, ruined bronze cauldron appeared, battered and broken, materializing above his head.

With a rumble, under that immense pressure, as the mental force carrying imperial qi surged forward, the ruined bronze cauldron came alive, glowing all over — a jade-green light, nearly translucent, immortal mist shooting out, radiating an undying brilliance.

All the pressure Ye Fan had been enduring was completely blocked. His eyes flashed with cold light as he charged forward with his dark red Slaughter Sword, striking directly at the Great Peacock Enlightened King.

“Clang!”

Divine radiance flashed forth, sword qi like a rainbow. Ye Fan’s single slash severed one of her armlets, shaking the Great Peacock Enlightened King’s body and forcing an involuntary long cry from her.

This was an extremely important dharma treasure to her — she never imagined it would be destroyed just like this.

On her arms remained several more armlets, forged and refined in matching pairs. Losing one meant the set was no longer perfect.

Worse still, the power of faith was swallowed by the bronze cauldron, even threatening the golden crown itself — the Buddha’s Path to Enlightenment that had just been displayed dimmed at once.

Ye Fan raised his sword and slashed, charging straight toward her most powerful dharma treasure — the golden crown.

“Zing,” “Zing”…

The Great Peacock Enlightened King hurled out her remaining armlets one after another, each crystalline and radiant, flying forward to block the sword qi.

Yet at this moment, Ye Fan not only wielded his immortal sword but also had the bronze cauldron reviving on its own — both glowing together, their combined aura who-knew-how-many-times stronger, like a heavenly furnace refining all power, pressing forward to suppress everything.

“Crack!”

The power of faith retreated. The armlets were all severed, shattering into dust. The Great Peacock Enlightened King hastily withdrew her golden Path-to-Enlightenment crown and, commanding five-colored divine light, plunged straight back toward Mount Sumeru.

Ye Fan pursued relentlessly from behind, the Word of Travel pushed to its absolute limit, his imperial sword raised as he slashed at the Great Peacock Enlightened King from behind.

Boom!

In the end, she had not strayed too far from Mount Sumeru. The moment the Great Peacock Enlightened King neared its peak, she summoned the entirety of her power of faith, applying all of it to her body at once — as good as donning a true imperial robe. Compared to before, there was no telling how many times stronger she had become.

Her pristine, gossamer robes had been torn to shreds by the turbulence during her flight back, exposing both of her slender forearms, leaving her expression icy cold.

Everyone was stunned — the Great Peacock Enlightened King was supposed to be invincible, yet Ye Fan had chased her all the way back. It left people trembling with dread.

“The Venerable Emperor’s… Immortal-Ascension Cauldron!”

“That’s the Green Cauldron of the Ancient Celestial Court!”

Many people cried out in shock, including the various sages from beyond the mortal realm and the powerful figures of the Big Dipper clans who had come to witness the spectacle from afar — all of them showed a change in expression.

“Please lend me the Demon-Subduing Pestle!” the Great Peacock Enlightened King said coldly, extending her hand to borrow the imperial artifact from Moke.

Standing on Mount Sumeru, wrapped in boundless mental force, so long as she did not leave the mountain, it was equivalent to possessing a flawless imperial artifact for protection. Yet she still wanted the Demon-Subduing Pestle — clearly intending to charge back into the firmament to kill Ye Fan.

Moke hesitated slightly, then cupped the imperial artifact in both hands and offered it to her. During this exchange, Mount Sumeru’s power of faith boiled, resisting Princess Shencan’s assault.

With a hiss, the Great Peacock Enlightened King transformed into a streak of divine mist and shot skyward, once again charging toward Ye Fan, the power of faith sweeping behind her like an ocean.

“Without the imperial artifact, does Mount Sumeru rely only on the power of faith to guard itself — you underestimate us far too much!” Princess Shencan sneered coldly. Already a Great Sage herself, and further strengthened by her clan’s immortal robe, her divine might overwhelmed the world.

With a rumble, the aura around her body became terrifying beyond measure. She was about to step directly onto Sumeru’s pure land, the ripples she shook loose surging like wild waves. Some golden-bodied arhats standing too far out were instantly turned to pulp, blood mist scattering into the air.

Facing the aggressive, relentless Great Peacock Enlightened King, Ye Fan retreated, avoiding her spearhead, buying time for Princess Shencan and the others.

But then he suddenly caught a trace of a cold smile at the corner of the Great Peacock Enlightened King’s mouth. Something felt wrong at once, and he shouted, “Not good — something’s changed on Mount Sumeru!”

He didn’t even need to say it — Princess Shencan had already sensed it. Killing intent without limit filled Mount Sumeru; it was a dragon’s den and phoenix’s nest, not to be touched — a Great Emperor’s killing array lay hidden here.

Rumor had it that Sumeru’s killing array had been limited by its materials, worn away by the passage of time, with little remaining. It turned out that wasn’t the case at all.

Clearly, the Great Peacock King’s earlier act had been deliberate — appearing as if her dharma treasure had been destroyed, acting recklessly, when in truth it was a trap set together with Moke, luring her in.

“Boom!”

Princess Shencan attacked, unafraid, for they too had come well-prepared. She immediately stepped backward, intending to retreat out of Mount Sumeru, since she had only just stepped a few paces in.

“You’re not leaving!” the Great Sage Moke said coldly, fully activating the formation array and mobilizing the power of faith to suppress Princess Shencan.

“Clang!”

The nine kinds of divine mist danced about Princess Shencan’s body, radiance blazing for ten thousand miles. She retreated along imperial patterns, yet felt an immense pressure — the killing array had come alive, slashing straight toward her.

“Let’s see where you can run!”

“Hiss!”

Suddenly, a blazing streak of immortal light flew in from the void, illuminating Mount Sumeru, merging with the nine-colored mist upon Princess Shencan’s imperial robe, and together they forcibly carved open a passage.

Princess Shencan stepped straight out through it, entirely unsurprised by this.

In the void, Ji Ziyue’s robes fluttered as she held an ancient, unadorned imperial mirror, radiating the most brilliant light in the world — it was she who had struck, bringing out the Ji Family’s supreme artifact.

The original plan had been for the imperial artifact and the ancient imperial weapon to strike together, charging straight into Mount Sumeru to rescue Huahua with lightning speed. They had never imagined Mount Sumeru would be far more terrifying than expected.

Legend held that the great array left behind by Amitabha had been mostly destroyed, with little remaining — yet in recent days it had overturned everyone’s understanding.

“Kill this peacock first, cut off her way back — the effect will be the same!” Princess Shencan said coldly, charging straight into the high heavens.