Deep within the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars, light burst out in great waves — strand after strand, thread after thread — ripping the sky apart in every direction, black voids opening everywhere as sages clashed.

The battle had reached its most intense point. Had any of those waves of light struck the ground, Central Province would have sunk a vast distance — at the very least, the purple spirit mountain where the Manor stood would not have survived.

Yet though battle cries rang out and sacred light flew in all directions, this particular place remained intact and untouched.

“The Manor of Extraordinary Scholars truly lives up to its reputation as a sacred ground of the human race. The rare convergence of terrain and Dao markings has made this an indestructible land.” One ancient sage muttered to himself, and pressed his assault even harder, unleashing the supreme attacks of a sage-king.

The Great Dao thundered. Tens of thousands of strands of immortal light came grinding down from the heavens, aiming to reduce this place to scorched earth.

Those watching from a distance all changed color. In that moment, they could see the boundless starry sky — a brilliant river of stars pouring down, casting its radiance in ten thousand beams, crushing the firmament and threatening to overturn everything in its path.

“Old master of the Manor, are you still resisting? Would you rather wait to see your entire lineage annihilated, killed down to the last person?” Another ancient sage spoke with absolute dominance, his cold, hollow voice carrying nothing but cruelty.

The sky was in ruins, vast and desolate. Light of every color swirled about, along with countless flickering black voids forming a fractured sky.

“You royal bloodlines truly go too far — have you thrown all rules and principles aside entirely?!” The old master of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars bellowed, his disheveled white hair standing on end.

“We go too far — what are you going to do about it?” One ancient sage spoke with brazen arrogance — face expressionless, cold and indifferent, his laughter utterly unbridled, his manner completely lawless. It was a sound that grated on every nerve.

From a distance, the senior figures of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars changed color. Every one of them clenched their fists. The invading ancient sages were utterly fearless — it maddened everyone to the point of wanting to tear them apart on the spot.

But unfortunately, these individuals were too powerful. Among all the human powerhouses of the present age, how many could match them?

“It is outrageous. These ancient tribes deserve to be cut into ten thousand pieces. Do they think the human race has no sages to speak of? Their arrogance and insolence has reached its absolute limit!” One elder of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars shook with rage from head to foot.

Ye Tong, Li Tian, and Dongfang Ye were all furious as well, brows furrowed, glaring up at the sky. The one thing offering them any comfort was that Ye Fan was unharmed — and seeing how calm he was, they could reasonably infer that the old sage of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars had come prepared.

In that consecrated ground, the battle grew ever fiercer. The old master’s cultivation had reached the heights of creation itself — a single person holding off six sages, and the confrontation had reached white heat.

“Old master, why must you persist like this? It is simply not worth it to endanger yourself for the sake of one Sacred Body. If you end up losing your own life, that would be a true regret you cannot undo.”

“Ha — you truly are powerful, old man. You’ve exceeded our expectations. But how much longer can you keep fighting like this? In the end, it will be a pointless death.”

Six ancient sages battled the old master together, sacred energy surging outward in a torrent that blotted out the sun above. And one among them summoned the radiance of a host of stars, turning this place into a starfield — meteors streaking, comets crossing the sky, beams of light flooding and submerging the entirety of this Central Province region. The power of the celestial bodies that had been summoned was terrifying — overwhelming everything.

“You pride yourselves on your might and come to strike at my door. But have you never considered — that one day, there may be someone stronger who does the same to you? Who comes to your tribes and kills until your souls are destroyed!” The old master roared.

“Are you joking? With your Manor of Extraordinary Scholars? Or are you counting on a human Sacred Body proving the Dao? Too bad — we will not give him the chance. Today, we will drench the earth with his blood!”

Six ancient sages filled the sky, together suppressing the old master. This place was ablaze with every color of light — each strand cataclysmic. Sages fighting each other: the spectacle was devastating.

Had the Manor not been an extraordinary location, with its entire mountain range of purple peaks saturated with formation markings, even the residual glow cast off from a sage’s attack would have been enough to obliterate this place dozens of times over.

“You were right about something just now — today we are bullying the human race. What can you do about it? Not only will we kill your Sacred Body, we will seize the five-colored altar — and you cannot stop us!”

Seeing that the battle showed no sign of ending quickly, one of the ancient sages laughed with brazen arrogance, trying to provoke the old sage into losing his composure.

“Since you have all been so shameless, and since this is the point we have reached — this old one will fight to the death. I will keep every last one of you here!” The old master howled.

“Old man — today we have you. We are eating you alive, we are bullying the human race — what are you going to do about it?!” One ancient sage laughed, domineering and overbearing.

From a distance, the Manor’s senior figures were trembling on the verge of leaping out of their own skins. It was infuriating beyond measure — but the intruding ancient sages simply could not have cared less, and there was nothing anyone could do.

These individuals were too powerful. How many human powerhouses in the present age could possibly match them?

“Was what I said just now correct? Today, we use the fist as our logic — and old one, your fist is not strong enough. Struggle all you like — it is a pointless death.” At that moment, an ancient, unhurried voice came.

On the five-colored altar, Ye Fan’s body dissolved into a wisp of clear energy and dissipated — and in his place, a sickly-looking old man appeared, taking on the form of an entirely different person.

“What — it is him… Gai Jiuyou!”

“He… how is he here? When did he arrive?”

“Run!”

The faces of several ancient tribal patriarchs turned to iron-grey, filled with profound unease. Without another word, they turned to flee.

“You came all this way — as you said yourselves, let us now reason through things with our fists.” Gai Jiuyou wore a sickly complexion, his voice even and unhurried, carrying not a trace of worldly heat or agitation. But when he extended a single finger, the wind and clouds changed in an instant.

A beam of light shot skyward from that one pointing finger — like a sun falling from orbit, sweeping across the cosmos, illuminating eternal immortal radiance.

Crack.

One ancient sage exploded on the spot. Blood flew and drenched heaven and earth. He had not even made a sound — he simply became a shattered ruin.

The remaining five ancient sages were nearly scared out of their souls. What kind of figures were they? One of those ancient sages had just been shattered by a single finger — it sent every last one of them trembling in shock.

“You went too far — forcing your way into my Manor of Extraordinary Scholars, committing violence at will. You want to eliminate our human Sacred Body, and you even intend to take the five-colored altar left behind by a human Great Emperor. It seems this old one has no choice but to make a trip to the Northern Domain.” Gai Jiuyou said.

“The five-colored altar has been destroyed by the ancient tribes.” The old sage of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars said. As he spoke, he shook his sleeve — a flash of five-colored divine light, and the altar shrank down and was collected away.

“Ah — then the ancient road to the domain beyond has truly been destroyed? Damaged by those ancient sages?” A blunt-natured senior figure inside the Manor stared blankly, face falling as he asked.

“Fool — of course the old fox of a Master said that deliberately. He’s turning this around to strike back at the ancient tribes, using it as a pretext to hide the five-colored altar. Gai Jiuyou is an unrivaled, peerless existence — he would never say such a thing. But our old Master? What kind of man is he? The sort who would pluck the feathers off a passing goose, who’d want even a passing rooster to lay him an egg. This time, he’s going to trail behind Gai the Invincible to the Northern Domain and extort everything he can along the way.” Another figure who knew the old master well whispered.

……

Formation markings interlaced and wove themselves into an altar platform. Gai Jiuyou, the old master of the Manor, and Ye Fan stepped onto it together and departed straight for the Northern Domain.

“Aroooo—!” The Black Emperor let out a wolflike howl, utterly elated. “There’s going to be a great upheaval now — the Ailing Elder is about to make his move! The whole world will be shaking. Is he going to turn the Northern Domain upside down?! We have to follow and see what happens!”

“Let’s go, let’s go — and watch them pull off something extraordinary!” Little Hua Hua said, buzzing with excitement as well.

The group set off in a great wave, activating a second altar platform and charging toward the Northern Domain — though naturally not on the same route as the three principals. They were going purely to watch the spectacle.

That day, upheaval swept the four directions. News of seven ancient sages converging to attack the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars spread swiftly across the land — it could not be suppressed. It triggered a tidal wave of shock.

Had the ancient tribes truly grown this arrogant? People everywhere were deeply unsettled.

But then word came that all seven ancient sages were dead — and that news left people unable to believe what they were hearing, blowing away every shadow from their hearts.

“Gai Jiuyou has made his move — the supreme one who has been unrivaled for eight thousand years has finally acted!”

“This senior ancient sage, who was considered capable of proving the Dao — he has finally bared his unmatched edge once more. Pressed to draw his sword, he has turned it against the ancient tribes!”

When people learned of this, there was not one who was not shaken to their core. Many of the older generation trembled with excitement. Gai Jiuyou was advanced in years, his life essence dried out, his body aged beyond measure — yet he could still fight!

Never mind Central Province and the other regions — even in the farthest reaches of the Western Desert, a solitary ancient figure atop Mount Sumeru could no longer sit still. He rose to his feet and gazed east toward the Eastern Wastelands from the summit of Sumeru.

Gai Jiuyou had come to the Northern Domain — drawing his sword for the first time in eight thousand years!

The entire world was in shock. This old man had brought the human Sacred Body to the Northern Domain to seek an accounting — to ask the ancient tribes why they had dared, again and again, to cast aside all rules and principles. He was prepared to act.

Many of the ancient tribes’ great clans were gripped with fear. A being who had lived for nine thousand years was coming to demand justice — and no one could know how great a tide of slaughter would follow.

For all these years, no one had ever seen this human supremacy make a move. Many among the ancient tribes had come to believe that he was finished, that his realm had collapsed by a great measure, that he was nothing like his former self.

And it was reasonable to think so. Even a Great Emperor grows old. The soul withers, the body dries out, and combat power plummets sharply.

History offered many examples. Consider the fully mature Sacred Body at the Sacred Cliff — in his prime, how magnificent he had been. Swallowing mountains and rivers, roaring across the heavens and earth, able to pluck stars from the sky and shatter the sun. A single cry could break apart constellations.

But what became of him in the end?

When his twilight years arrived, his blood energy ran dry, his body deteriorated, and the combat power of his peak was gone. He was eventually cut down and killed — he died at the Sacred Cliff. The blood of a fully mature Sacred Body dyed that black peak red, and even now the stains of his faded life essence still remain.

Pitiable. Lamentable.

And yet — now, Gai Jiuyou had raised his hand and wiped out seven ancient sages with a wave, sage-kings among them. What the world had witnessed today was that his blood energy still lived, his vitality still burned, and the edge he had carried in former days had not been lost.

Gai Jiuyou had moved. He had brought Ye Fan to the Northern Domain. He was about to unleash the most awe-inspiring sword strike the world had ever seen — and all of existence was holding its breath. The human race was exhilarated. The ancient tribes were terrified. Every eye in the world was watching.