“Travel northwest; find her in the mortal world.”

These were the words on the yellowed paper Ye Fan held in his hand — the renowned talisman paper of the Celestial Mechanism Sect, bearing those six characters, and heralding the passing of yet another patriarch.

Ye Fan and the others had already traveled far. They turned and bowed once in the direction of that low hill range from a great distance.

The various great lineages and ancient sects had poured into the wilderness, frequenting the places richest in spiritual energy — all because they believed Xiao Nannan had been formed from the materialization of an undying immortal medicine, and assumed she would favor places teeming with life energy.

Some sacred grounds had even ventured into forbidden zones for this purpose, paying a steep price over these many years.

“This makes sense — she’s in the mortal world. How would the great sects ever find her there,” Ye Fan said, his mood settling slightly.

On the other side, Li Tian suddenly let out a yelp. He too held a talisman paper, on which certain words were written — words that caused his expression to surge with excitement.

“The path of human cultivation shall rise greatly; my senior brother and I shall become its founding ancestors of revival!”

All in all, the news they had received was encouraging, and the unease in their hearts eased considerably. Yet whenever Ye Fan’s thoughts turned to Xiao Nannan, a faint ache still crept into his chest. The little one always suffered. Who knew how many cold glances and harsh words she had endured in the mortal world over all these years.

So many years had passed — why had she still not grown up? This was a question that had long puzzled him.

Without a moment’s delay, they set off northwest. They allowed for no detours whatsoever, afraid of any unforeseen change — for a prophecy was only a reference, not a guarantee.

The eastern Shenzhou, the northern Luzhou, the western Hezhou — all harbored unassailable great powers. Ye Fan set out from Shenzhou, his direction fixed. Even if he encountered an undying lineage, he would break through.

Yet before they had even left the Central Region, they heard certain strange rumors.

“Have you heard? The descendant of the Solar Sacred Emperor has returned, and is now immensely powerful.”

“Really? Wasn’t that lineage wiped out to the last person? Even their immortal scripture was lost countless tens of thousands of years ago — how could anyone remarkable emerge from it now?”

“Have you forgotten? Back then, a young man named Ye Fan rescued the sole surviving bloodline of that clan.”

…

Within these few days, news of Ye Tong’s return had already spread, because someone had spotted him going to pay his respects to his ancestors.

It was a place of utter devastation — mountain ranges collapsed, palaces shattered, rubble strewn everywhere, countless bones scattered across the land, black mist permeating the air, a desolate and barren wasteland.

For more than half a month, every night someone had heard weeping — heartbroken, inconsolable wailing. Passing cultivators noticed something amiss, stopped to look, and discovered Ye Tong.

Two days later, a shocking piece of news arrived: Ye Tong had drawn his bow and shot down over a dozen patrols from the Golden Crow lineage who had come to inspect the ruins of the Solar Sacred Court, killing every last one of them cleanly.

This naturally caused a tremendous stir. Ye Tong’s ferocity surpassed everyone’s expectations — he made no attempt to hide or evade, openly intending to sweep through the entire Golden Crow lineage.

“A real battle is about to break out. The Golden Crow King certainly cannot sit still now.”

“Slaughtering the lineage of the human race’s Sacred Emperor is something that invites heavenly retribution. I have a feeling the Golden Crow clan has been too arrogant for too long — their good days are coming to an end.”

“All these days, that young man called Ye Tong has not left the site. He’s been building graves there — and with extraordinary confidence.”

Ye Tong had cleared out the barren mountain ranges, his eyes swollen from weeping. Over these few days he had visited many places, but had been unable to find his parents’ remains. He had gone to the black northern sea as well, yet could not recover the bones of the old servant who had been buried in those vast waters.

In the end, among all his kin, he had found only one small set of skeletal remains. Ye Tong wept until his grief overwhelmed him, pressing his forehead to the ground, his entire being trembling in body and soul.

That older sister from back then — how much older could she have been than him? Yet in the midst of crisis she had kept reassuring him, and in the end had stood in front of him to shield him. Even now, thinking of it tore him apart. The image of that frail girl — slender frame, pale face, and the last faint trace of a forlorn smile — was forever fixed within Ye Tong’s heart. Whenever it surfaced, his heart shattered. Tears rolled down his face as he raised his head to the sky and let out a mournful howl, like a wounded lone wolf.

“Golden Crow clan — I, Ye Tong, am not a man who lives for slaughter. I have no desire to pursue annihilation. But every last person who struck out that day — not one of them shall be allowed to live. You who destroyed my clan, I will cut every one of you into a thousand pieces!”

Ye Tong had never howled with such raw intensity before. It was the first time he had ever been this ferocious — murderous intent boiling and surging upward into the high heavens, scattering the clouds in all ten directions, while in the distance entire mountain ranges crumbled and fell.

Without needing to seek out the Golden Crow lineage, while Ye Tong was still constructing the graves and burying the countless white bones of the ruins, the Golden Crow lineage came knocking on its own.

And they came with considerable force — a saint leading a vast army, advancing with great fanfare.

“You remnant scourge from the old days, you dare return even now? Heaven itself wants to wipe out your entire lineage. What a pity — the Solar Sacred Emperor’s lifetime of great renown, and his clan is about to die out completely!”

The old Golden Crow leading the army was exceedingly cutting in his words — venomous, taunting.

“Nothing more than an avatar — is your Golden Crow lineage so afraid that you won’t send your true body? You’ve merely come to die!” Ye Tong roared back.

His saint’s authority and Power Aura unfurled without restraint. In an instant, light blazed everywhere, divine radiance flooding in all directions — and with one great palm strike, he smashed the saint in front of him to pieces.

As for the so-called great army, all of it was conjured from golden feathers — none of it true flesh and blood.

The news that the Golden Crow clan had sent a saint’s avatar to probe and been completely annihilated spread across the continent.

“We happen to be passing through — let us go take a look. As his teacher, it would be wrong of me not to lend a hand,” Ye Fan said.

They had received the news while traveling northwest, and their path happened to take them past the ruins of the Solar Sacred Court.

Shenzhou was shaken. Everyone realized the full extent of Ye Tong’s power. The Golden Crow clan had brought enormous trouble upon itself this time — most likely, they were truly going to pay the price for the bloody massacre they had carried out.

“Even the descendant of our human race’s Sacred Emperor dared they slaughter — far too arrogant!” Naturally, many hoped to see Ye Tong cut down his enemies with his own hands.

In Shenzhou, fierce winds swept the land and great tremors occurred. The Golden Crow clan was outraged. Just one survivor from the old days — and in however many years it had been, he had grown to this level. They were both furious and alarmed.

“He has grown too fast. He must be eliminated. Deploy the clan’s great saint killing formation, and use full strength to annihilate him!”

“His constitution is identical to the Solar Sacred Emperor’s — now that he has returned, he is likely even stronger than we imagined. Not only must the killing formation be deployed, but we must wield the great saint weapon as well, to kill him completely. We must also bring out our hidden foundations!”

The entire Golden Crow lineage was seething with murderous intent. They had been dominant for so long, and now having been struck down by someone, it was unbearable for those who had always stood high above all others and held the world beneath their feet.

On that day, murderous energy rolled and battle clouds gathered thickly. The Golden Crow clan mobilized extensively, dispatching their many powerful experts. This time, there were no phantom illusions — it was the true bodies of every powerful warrior descending.

War chariots after war chariots ground forward, making the sky rumble with thunderous sound. Battle energy surged like a tide, heading northwest toward the ancient land they had once attacked and breached.

It was impossible to count how many Golden Crows had come. Golden silhouettes filled the entire sky, wings blotting out the heavens, packed densely one against another. The Golden Crow clan’s full mobilization was enough to raze several great clans without difficulty.

“Wretched remnant, surrender your life!” the Golden Crow clan bellowed.

It was the same ancient land, and yet again, a punitive strike descended.

The land shattered, rivers fractured — Ye Tong’s heart felt as though it were being sliced open by a blade. These were the very people who had destroyed his home, slaughtered his kin, and left him a lifetime of pain.

Suppressing his wrath, he charged forward and engaged the great demon of the Holy King realm — the clan’s hidden foundation.

Pairs of golden wings spread wide, one grotesque face after another appearing, all breaking into cruel laughter. War chariots crowded the sky, and an endless torrent of formation patterns came crushing down.

“You wretched creature — you went away for years, yet you dare return? You seek your own death!”

The clan’s powerful experts moved as one, reactivating the great formation, while a great saint weapon came pressing down at the same moment — Power Aura blanketing the heavens — intending to bind Ye Tong and end his life in an instant.

This level of offensive force was enough to break open an undying great sect. And yet now it was all concentrated upon a single person, which showed just how seriously the Golden Crow clan regarded him.

Though Ye Tong was filled with grief and rage, he had not lost his composure. Trained by Ye Fan, he had mastered the Soldier Script technique, and did not fall into the trap — moving at a speed incomprehensible to others, he retreated dozens of li in an instant, evading the death trap set for him.

“Wretched creature, where do you think you’re going? Even as a descendant of the Solar Sacred Emperor, you will not survive — let everything end here!” the Golden Crow clan’s experts shouted, advancing together once more.

“You’ve come at just the right time!” Ye Fan, Li Tian, and Yan Yixi arrived from a distance.

They had heard the news while on the road. How could they not make an appearance for something of such magnitude? They arrived at the first possible moment, each one’s expression cold and piercing, murderous intent surging to the heavens.

This was not only Ye Fan’s disciple — Ye Tong was Li Tian and Yan Yixi’s student too. One might even say the two of them cared even more about the boy than Ye Fan did. Ye Tong had been raised by their hands.

“You dare use your power to oppress my disciple?!” Li Tian roared.

And Yan Yixi — typically so refined — went pale with cold fury. He directly brought out the Divine Maiden Furnace, and the magnificent divine cauldron erupted with boundless auspicious radiance.

Clang!

Li Tian slapped it once on top and flung it forward. The divine furnace expanded in an instant, growing immense and boundless, and slammed into the Golden Crow clan’s great formation — with a thunderous boom, it shattered everything utterly.

The Golden Crow clan’s great saint weapon happened to collide with the Divine Maiden Furnace at this very moment. The clan’s members had been full of hope — only for their faces to turn ashen white once again. The Golden Crow clan’s great saint weapon could not compare to the Divine Maiden Furnace in any way; it was directly pulverized to dust without the slightest suspense.

“Ah…!”

Agonized screams rose to the heavens everywhere. Countless Golden Crows were buried in that enormous energy storm, reduced to mist of blood — the count unknown.

Meanwhile, Ye Fan also moved, shielding the already shattered terrain below, ensuring the ruins of the Solar Sacred Court suffered no impact and that the graves remained intact.

Those watching from a distance were stunned. They knew the Golden Crow clan was finished. With such a formidable figure taking action, even if the clan deployed every last bit of their hidden strength, there was no way out — they were destined for annihilation.

“Golden Crow King, where do you think you’re going!” Ye Tong bellowed. He remembered this figure from that year — once a perfected king-realm expert, now a Holy King — yet Ye Tong had no fear.

The Golden Crow King’s face went ghastly pale. He had recognized Ye Fan, and he had identified the Divine Maiden Furnace. He never could have imagined that those people from back then had grown to such a terrifying level by now.

More than half of the Golden Crows were still alive. Li Tian and Yan Yixi made no further move — they had destroyed the killing formation and the great saint weapon, and beyond that, they left Ye Tong to handle the rest without concern.

“Since I’ve already made a move, let there be a conclusion today,” Ye Fan said, and with that, he directly tore open the void and vanished from where he stood, reappearing at the Golden Crow clan’s ancestral grounds.

Naturally, great saint formations were in place here. Ye Fan drew his bow and nocked an arrow — one arrow split heaven and earth — and the mountain gate below shattered directly, the formation torn open.

When the second arrow fell, the clan’s entire formation was almost completely destroyed. He called out: “The Solar Sacred Emperor earned merits so great, and yet you could still bring yourselves to act with such cold-bloodedness — to slaughter his entire clan. Those who participated that day, remain. Those who played no part, leave immediately.”

In the Golden Crow clan’s inner sanctum, everyone had already been frightened to the point of stupefaction. The arrogance of the past was gone without a trace. Their courage shattered completely, and the entire clan fled — regardless of whether one had participated or not, every last one of them ran, unwilling to stand their ground here any longer.

Ye Fan made no move to pursue. He extended one great hand and seized them all at once, then tore open the void and flung them into the ruins of the Solar Sacred Court.

He himself remained behind, intending to destroy this ancient ground — wary that something strange lurked here that might injure his disciple.

Boom!

Ye Fan loosed an arrow that sent an entire ancient city exploding apart, reduced to drifting ash.

Hum!

Light blazed brilliantly. There was indeed something strange here — all the structures above ground had been destroyed, but from beneath the earth, even more intricate and complex formation patterns emerged.

“How dare you, you young upstart!” Seven or eight figures shot into the sky, breaking out of the divine source — and among them was actually a great saint!

A fierce battle unfolded. The terrifyingly complex formation patterns reactivated, working in concert with these figures as they struck out — throwing heaven and earth into upheaval, shaking every powerful expert throughout the ancient Purple Subtlety Star Domain, its reverberations piercing straight up into the nine heavens.

…

In the end, Ye Fan returned. His body bore scattered drops of blood — all belonging to the Golden Crow clan. The clan’s ancestral ground had been razed to the ground by his hand.

“Leave the rest to Ye Tong himself,” Ye Fan said with a quiet sigh. He had swept away the most powerful among them, for they were beyond what Ye Tong could handle — great saints transcended that range.

Now, he need not worry any further. With such a deterring force, no one would dare plot against his disciple in secret.

“Let us go — northwest,” Ye Fan said.

Ye Fan, Li Tian, and Yan Yixi departed. All that remained was a weeping Ye Tong, fighting and killing his way across that expanse of heaven and earth. The ruins of the Solar Sacred Court had become a killing ground soaked in blood.