The warship set off and sailed forward. The surrounding red mist grew denser — the killing energy bone-piercingly cold. That pair of cyan eyes far in the distance watched on, indifferent and glacially cold, without a trace of white.
Slash!
A golden thread broke through the void. After having everyone board and prepare, Ye Fan suddenly turned back and attacked, tearing open space — naturally at the absolute limit of speed.
He had no reason to be cautious. There were truly very few beings in this world who could harm his physical body. He raised his hand and struck forward to suppress and kill, his right palm like a rolling thunderclap, striking toward the creature’s skull.
A howl tore through the stillness of the death ground — the sound too violent, like a heaven-splitting thunderclap that had descended here. It made people’s skulls ache.
Wave after wave of cyan ripples expanded outward. This terrifying colossus revealed itself, shifting three thousand zhang sideways with a speed like lightning — astonishingly fast.
“A Thunder Killing Beast — born from the fusion of heavenly thunder and killing energy into a world-shaking creature! Catch it! It would be of immeasurable benefit for artifact forging!” From behind, the Black Emperor cried out.
Ye Fan moved again — swift as streaming light — breaking through space to appear before the Thunder Killing Beast, reaching out once more. But the creature was far too fast; true to its name, it possessed the speed of lightning.
Crack!
Ye Fan had only grazed its body, but his palm and fingers were of what extraordinary solidity and power — he scraped off a palm-sized piece of cyan luminous scale, forged as though from cyan electricity, sizzling and crackling.
“Roaarrr!”
The Thunder Killing Beast let out a great roar. Wind howled wildly, sand and stones flew, red killing energy surged violently, mountains and rivers shook, rumbling with the beast’s fury.
Ye Fan exerted force. The scale fragment between his fingers deformed, then with a pop dissolved into electrical light and killing energy, splashing out brilliant radiance.
“What incredible speed. Ye Fan tore through space and barely caught up to it — truly beyond heaven’s design, genuinely riding the lightning to move!” Yan Yixi marveled.
This Thunder Killing Beast was no weakling, having long since stepped into the Great Sage realm. Most crucially, its speed eclipsed the heroes of the world — an ordinary person could absolutely never catch it.
Yet the one it now faced was Ye Fan — a man possessing a quasi-emperor’s physical body. Though his Travel Word Art could not fully function, tearing through space alone was sufficient to look down upon all contemporaries.
Hum!
One foot stamped down. This time the Thunder Killing Beast fought desperately to no avail — Ye Fan sat astride it. Electrical arcs surged across its entire body, yet could do nothing against its enemy.
Ye Fan gave it a light pat and it collapsed to the ground, cyan electricity weaving across it, its entire body crackling. Yet the blazing divine radiance in its eyes did not diminish — if anything, it intensified further, shooting directly outward. Two sharp beams of light launched, piercing toward the space between Ye Fan’s brows — a divine sense attack that transcended the beast’s own cultivation level!
Smack!
Ye Fan raised his hand and held it before his forehead, shattering the two beams of cyan light, dispersing them into wisps of smoke. The Black Emperor flew over and seized control of the beast’s sea of consciousness, fully suppressing it, intending to take it for their own use.
“This one is merely a pawn. The indifferent yet blazing gaze from before belonged to someone else — it was a wisp of divine sense stored within this beast’s skull. A far more terrifying figure lurks behind it!”
They speculated that a figure of imperial child caliber had detected them, and possessed no small degree of influence over this ancient battlefield — having already subdued a heavenly and earthly creature of this order.
Rumble!
From the distance came the sound of crashing waves, deafening in its volume. An immensely oppressive aura surged toward them head-on.
“What is that?”
It was like a vast ocean, covering sky and earth, rolling in from far away in a mighty torrent — staggeringly immense. It shook away the killing energy, then fell directly, crashing down upon them!
“Such a swift response — they struck immediately?”
“A Thunder Sea — this is the Sea of Heavenly Tribulation! Who would have thought we’d encounter such a thing here? The Dao direction of that imperial child-level figure is to master lightning — to command heavenly punishment? To compete with heaven itself for authority? This must be an exceptionally domineering individual!”
Among their memories, no such person existed — not Huang Xudao, not Huo Qizi, not the Golden Heavenly Maiden, not the Dragon Girl of the Ten Thousand Dragon’s Nest — none of them had this type of Dao path.
There was no time for hesitation. This was a waterfall cluster of thunder and lightning, falling from sky to earth in an all-encompassing curtain, boundless and without edge, like countless suns detonating simultaneously — terrifying beyond all limit.
Within that sea one could see furious waves surging, transforming into various human and beast shapes, baring fangs and brandishing claws, charging forward with roars.
In the past, Ye Fan had frequently used heavenly tribulation to attack great enemies. Now the tables had turned — someone was deploying a heavenly tribulation of this enormous scale to annihilate all of them.
“Wiping out a group of Great Sages would be no problem at all!” The Black Emperor spoke with absolute gravity, giving voice to the cruelty of this ancient battlefield. Surviving here required extraordinarily transcendent combat power.
Ye Fan did not act. The Black Pearl blazed with light — especially the blood hammer at the prow, which hummed and shuddered, collapsing heaven and earth. The area ten thousand li ahead was reduced to a true void, devoid even of primordial chaos energy.
Terrifying offensive power!
The Thunder Sea was bored through. The Black Pearl’s might was awe-inspiring. They sailed at extreme speed, charging toward their target.
Boom!
Radiance exploded throughout heaven and earth. A phantom figure flickered — this was not the true body, merely a manifestation of form dwelling within the lightning. The true body was hundreds of thousands of li away, absent from this region.
The Black Pearl immediately drove toward it. In this place, there were no particularly special laws — the imperial children had made their challenge, the supreme path faced off in supremacy, battle was the essence of all things, and the strong were honored.
This time the warship unleashed its full power. Countless wisps of radiant light poured from its entire body. Purple mist submerged all before it, pulverizing all thunder, crashing into that phantom figure.
This was a quasi-emperor artifact — astonishingly swift, no slower than lightning. That phantom figure could not evade in time. It seemed shocked, having never expected to encounter such a band of powerful figures.
“I, the Thunder God, have taken note of you all!”
Those words were left echoing in the void, and then his body dissolved into lightning and vanished.
In an instant, stillness returned. All the lightning dissipated. The red mist surged back. Heaven and earth grew dim once more — the distant scenery obscured from view.
“What sort of thing is the ‘Thunder God?’ Never heard of it!”
“The cosmos is boundless and immeasurable. Heaven knows what manner of figures have gathered here. If we could come, others will find ways to enter as well.”
They were alert. This place was complex. Not all of the imperial children were necessarily known to them, and certainly there were other incomparable figures who had come here to fight.
The earlier commotion had been considerable, disturbing certain creatures and spreading word that a band of powerful individuals had arrived.
Meanwhile, Ye Fan had searched the Thunder Killing Beast’s sea of consciousness and obtained some useful information. Though what pertained to the Thunder God was scarce, there was a general layout map of this region.
Several hundred thousand li away was a city — a remnant from ancient times. And the “ancient times” spoken of here were extremely remote, traceable at the very least to the Great Antiquity, or perhaps even further back.
This place had been the battlefield of the most powerful beings in the cosmos — ancient emperors, divine creatures, quasi-emperors. Multiple great wars had occurred here, leaving this mysterious ancient land to be passed down among certain supreme-tier races. At intervals, their descendants would come here to temper and cultivate.
Such a city served as a foothold for these figures — a place for exchange. This vast battlefield certainly held more than a single crumbling ancient relic of a city.
In this age, the imperial children had made their appointment to carry out a grand decisive battle, and naturally this place had become the first choice.
Red mist billowed. The Black Pearl advanced at great speed — for a quasi-emperor artifact, several hundred thousand li was but a hand’s breadth away. Even without tearing through space, they arrived in an instant.
This city was thoroughly dilapidated, truly beyond ancient — so old it could barely be called a city. The gatehouse had half-collapsed, and the city walls had crumbled in great sections.
The buildings within the city were in a semi-ruined state. Even the streets could barely be traversed, blocked by massive stones and rubble. Rather than calling it an ancient city, it was more accurately a stretch of ruins.
Yet there were indeed people within the city. Powerful figures had come here to temper themselves, and some conducted exchanges. Though figures were not numerous, life was nonetheless present.
The moment they approached the city gate, Ye Fan’s brows shot up. Posted there was a portrait — none other than the Holy Prince. Someone was offering a bounty. Whoever provided information on his whereabouts would receive an ancient scripture detailing how to bring an Immortal Platform to its ultimate sublimation. And it was specifically noted that the scripture bore personal annotations by an ancient emperor.
“How generous! Who is this? What power harbors such a burning desire to kill Monkey?” Li Heishui said.
Ye Fan stepped forward and tore down the wanted notice directly. After examining it at length, he reduced it to ash.
Not far away, sounds of startled amazement rang out. Clearly people found this act of his astonishing — which further confirmed the domineering nature of whoever had issued the bounty.
“These are the ones who made the Thunder God’s avatar suffer a loss. What are their origins?”
“The Thunder God came from the Life Forbidden Zone — the Divine Ruins. He is currently devoting all effort to endure the quasi-emperor tribulation. He should break through within the next few months, and has no time to spare for other matters.”
The moment they arrived here, they learned a startling truth: the Thunder God they had encountered earlier hailed from a Life Forbidden Zone — the Divine Ruins!
In the past, the outside world had entertained many speculations about that place. Some believed it was a gathering ground for divine creatures; others said it was the ruins of the ancient Heavenly Court, housing their descendants.
The Thunder God came from there!
“The master of the Divine Ruins is already dead. Who knows if there are any sovereigns still within. We’ve run into one of his offspring this time — we are destined to kill them clean!” Pang Bo said with chilling coldness, showing this expression for the very first time.
The great war of over three hundred years ago had been too catastrophic — the land laid waste, life extinguished. Even the Void Great Emperor and the Constant Universe Great Emperor had fallen in battle. And Pang Bo and the others had lost several of their dearest companions.
Ji Zi, Jiang Taixu, the senior Gai Jiuyou… one vivid face after another, as though still before their eyes — all of them had spilled their blood across the cosmic battlefield.
How could such hatred go unavenged?!
They could not flatten the Life Forbidden Zones, but Ye Fan could pursue and hunt their descendants. Even if those individuals had ascended to quasi-emperor, Ye Fan had the ability to do battle — or even to level them entirely.
“Who issued this bounty — who wants to have the Holy Prince killed?”
Entering the city, Ye Fan sought information from those present. Not everyone who came here was necessarily an imperial child-level figure set on decisive combat. Some descendants of supreme-tier races had come with their elders merely to temper themselves and broaden their horizons.
Naturally someone recognized him, and in extreme astonishment, made no attempt to conceal the truth.
“They claimed to come from the Phoenix Nest, and their precise identities are not known.”
Someone had once seen a colossal phoenix nest pass across the sky. The aura it emanated had shaken this entire battlefield, causing all the imperial children to reveal expressions of shock.
At that very moment, a brilliant blade of light had cleaved through the cosmos and appeared in the distance. The Phoenix Nest had given chase without stopping. Only two individuals were left behind, coming here to post the bounty calling for the Holy Prince’s death.
“So they’ve finally appeared,” Ye Fan said, his eyes flickering.
The others, however, felt their scalps go numb. Even the Black Emperor was overwhelmed with dread, deeply sensing that great trouble had arrived — this could be a catastrophe, an unending disaster that might descend again.
“The Holy Prince struck down — who did he defeat?”
“According to what’s been heard, the imperial children have been locked in fierce combat for many years. The Holy Prince was the first to cut down a great enemy through a battle of blood — he destroyed an ancient emperor’s own son who had come from the Great Antiquity Ancient Mine.”
“What? The Great Antiquity Ancient Mine still has an ancient emperor’s son sealed within?”
Even the Black Emperor was shocked by this. It had always believed only a few emperor-level figures resided there, never imagining there were others as well.
Ye Fan quickly came to understanding. He had once ventured into the Great Antiquity Forbidden Zone, and still remembered that night — watching from a distance as numerous figures rose within the ancient mine against the backdrop of starlight. Some had been sealed within their sources, some exposed, and others were clearly corpses. It was never something as simple as just a few individuals.