To strike down a sage in a snap of the fingers — what terrifying power that was. Never mind placing it in the present age: even measured against the fierce and mighty figures throughout all of history, this would not fall short.
With Gai Jiuyou’s arrival, his divine might shook the world. He stood at the absolute pinnacle of all those who had ever lived — a true and unrivaled master of the age.
With just two fingers extended, he had shattered two ancient sages — not even allowing their souls to escape. The blood mist drifting in the sky, the crimson scent of it, the blinding flashes of dying light — it all left hearts pounding and shaking.
The remaining ancient tribal sages each went pale as snow, their hands and feet going numb, cold seeping from the crown of their heads down to their feet, scalps prickling, souls trembling faintly.
It was not that they were contemptibly weak — it was that within that frail-looking old man ahead of them, there was something that made them shudder. A primal, instinctive terror.
Others might not be able to see it. But as ancient sages, at this moment of life and death, they could see it clearly: inside that aged, near-decayed body, there was a soul blazing as brilliantly as a sun — proclaiming his peerless, world-spanning power.
True, that soul was already covered in the knife-marks of long ages, unable to remain immortal forever — but to deal with them, it was more than enough. Utterly effortless.
“Gai Jiuyou, you cannot do this to us…” The ancient sages were panicking. The old man before them was decrepit in body, with terrible color in his face — yet he inspired fear in them beyond any limit.
“Why can I not? Did you not just say that whoever has the harder fist holds the right? That strength alone is logic? I am taking this very seriously, engaging with you in earnest.” Gai Jiuyou bore his sickly expression, and from his mouth he breathed out a strand of pure energy — which transformed into a wave of chaotic light surging upward.
Crack.
One ancient sage’s body was wrecked as though struck by a massive hammer. Every bone, every scrap of flesh was ruined beyond recognition — and his soul was no different. Then he simply exploded entirely.
“He’s dead — another ancient sage is dead! And this one was known throughout the ancient tribes as a sage-king with unmatched defensive power — and a single breath of life essence blew him apart!”
Inside the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars, every senior figure who had moments ago been choked with frustration and righteous indignation felt a breath of long-suppressed air finally release from their chests. The oppression evaporated, and they began to feel something like sympathy for the ancient sages.
To face someone as unfathomably deep as Gai Jiuyou — it was nothing short of a tragedy. Mighty ancient sages had lost all capacity to fight, cut down with casual ease, reduced to the helplessness of three-year-old children.
“Gai Jiuyou — you are a true supreme of the ages. Do you recall the agreement made at the Jade Pool gathering? You are killing our ancient sages without any restraint — are you not afraid of drawing out several great sages? Please, show mercy. We acknowledge our errors.” One patriarch’s face went snow-white, and he screamed in terror.
They had been sages for so many years — when had they ever felt fear like this? They had always stood at the pinnacle, looking down at everything beneath them. But now their bravado was hollow, their terror reaching down into their very marrow. To survive, they would beg — and they could not summon even the faintest thought of putting up a fight.
“When my human race observes rules and principles with you, you declare that whoever has the harder fist holds the logic. Now I am reasoning with you through fists — and yet you bring up old agreements and old rules. Tell me: what am I supposed to do?” Gai Jiuyou let out a quiet sigh.
He stood upon the five-colored altar, his ancient Daoist robe flapping in the wind, his body gaunt and his complexion poor — and yet from this diminished frame came world-shaking power that made every sage present look on in fear and reverence, as one would look upon a god.
“Whoosh!”
One ancient sage brought out a sacred weapon passed down through the ages. Sacred light poured forth in a flood, tearing open the sky, forcing open a chaotic passage that led straight toward the Northern Domain — a path of escape from this disaster.
The sacred light blazed brilliantly, illuminating all of eternity. He stepped into it with one stride, a flicker of joy crossing his face. Once the rift closed, heaven and earth would be vast and trackless — no trace of him to follow. Escape, and he would live.
But of course, this could not come to pass — for the man before him bore the name: Gai Jiuyou.
Whether in the past, the present, or the future — this was a world-spanning figure worthy of being inscribed into the annals of cultivation history. Had he not been born in an age too close to the Azure Emperor, he would absolutely have had a chance at proving the Dao.
“RUMBLE!”
Gai Jiuyou stood on the five-colored altar. His eyes carried no particular gleam — they even looked somewhat clouded. Yet the moment his hand reached out, heaven and earth cracked apart. He simply plucked that ancient sage and his weapon straight out of the void.
“Too terrifying!”
Not just Ye Fan, Duan De, and the Sacred Crown Prince — even sage-level existences felt their scalps go numb. The remaining two ancient sages felt every inch of their flesh convulsing, paralyzed with fear to their absolute limit.
They were sages. They could pluck a falling meteorite from the sky. They could blow apart a moon. A battle between them could sink an enormous expanse of Central Province into the earth.
Yet before Gai Jiuyou, they had become invalids. They could not muster even the courage to fight — because a single raised hand was enough to annihilate them.
Crack.
The wrinkled palm slowly closed. That ancient sage let out a single wail of agony and was turned to blood mist on the spot. The divinity that had lived within the sacred weapon thrashed and struggled in terror — but it too was shattered piece by piece, dissolving into a shower of glorious sacred light that scattered across the heavens like fireworks blooming.
“This… just how powerful is he? That was an immortal, generational sacred weapon — and it was detonated like a firework. The extravagance of it is horrifying. The brilliance of it is terrifying!” The Black Emperor muttered.
Power like this reduced every onlooker to near-petrification. There was simply no way to fathom what realm Gai Jiuyou actually occupied. All anyone could do was look up in awe.
Gai Jiuyou spoke: “For so many years, you have acted with unbridled arrogance — so much so that in the territories your descendants pass through, even young children dare not cry. One can imagine the extremity of your insolence. I had not intended to involve myself. Ten thousand races stand equal; peaceful coexistence while we all await the opening of the immortal path — that was my desire. But you have gone too far. You have pushed beyond all limits — and now you come to the sacred ground of my people, seeking to kill our human Sacred Body and seize the five-colored altar, believing the human race can be bullied at will. Is that it? It seems this old one has no choice but to stretch his limbs a little. War in the name of ending war — for some people, reasoning with words alone simply does not teach them where the line is.”
“Spare us, we beg you — we will never dare again. Let us go this once. We swear we will forever withdraw from the world and never act against the human race.” One ancient sage performed the deepest bow, nearly falling to his knees, drenched in cold sweat, not daring to move a muscle.
“Too late. Since I have already acted, how can I stop now?” Gai Jiuyou shook his head.
Clearly, this time he intended to establish his authority — to strike until the ancient tribes trembled with fear. Slaughtering these few sages was merely the opening move. He would certainly use this occasion to issue the most terrifying warning possible.
“You are a supreme existence — we are nothing but ants. Do not lower yourself to our level. We swear never to oppose the human race again — please, raise your hand and show mercy.”
There is a moment when anyone, however great, knows fear. Confronted with Gai Jiuyou, these two ancient sages were terrified to their bones. To survive, they knelt and pleaded. They could not produce even a single thought of resistance.
These were patriarchs from among the ten most radical royal bloodlines — ordinarily high and untouchable above all others. When had they ever known moments like this — trembling on their knees, begging for their lives, unable to form even a thought of resistance? Word of this spreading out would be enough to make the entire world stare in disbelief.
But regrettably, their final confessions and pleas did nothing to change their fates. Gai Jiuyou shook out his sleeve — and they were broken apart piece by piece, turned to nothing but blood and mud.
“Today, several royal bloodlines of the Northern Domain broke their agreement without cause, coming to kill our human Sacred Body, and even attempting to seize the five-colored altar left behind by a human Great Emperor. This forces this old one 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 finished speaking, he shook his sleeve, and in a flash of five-colored divine light, the altar shrank and was put away.
“Ah — so the ancient road leading to the domain beyond has truly been destroyed? Those ancient sages smashed it?” One straightforward senior figure inside the Manor stared blankly, a mournful expression on his face as he asked.
“Foolish — of course the old fox of a Master said that deliberately. He’s turning this around to strike back at the ancient tribes, hiding the five-colored altar behind the pretense. Gai Jiuyou is a peerless, unrivaled existence — he would never say such a thing. But our old Master? What is he? The kind who plucks every feather off a passing goose, who would want even a rooster that walked by to lay him an egg. This time, he’s going to follow in Gai the Invincible’s wake to the Northern Domain and shake down everyone he finds along the way.” Another who understood the old master well whispered under his breath.
……
Formation markings interlaced into an altar platform. Gai Jiuyou, the old master, and Ye Fan stepped aboard together and headed straight for the Northern Domain.
“Arooooo—!” The Black Emperor let out a howl of delight, brimming with excitement: “A great upheaval is coming now — the Ailing Old One is making his move! The whole world will be shaking. Will he turn the Northern Domain upside down? We have to follow and see for ourselves!”
“Let’s go, let’s go — and watch them do something absolutely massive!” Little Hua Hua said, equally beside himself with excitement.
The whole group set off in a great wave, activating a second altar platform and charging toward the Northern Domain — though naturally not on the same road as the three principals. They were purely going to watch the spectacle.
That day, upheaval swept in all four directions. News of seven ancient sages joining forces to attack the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars spread swiftly across the land — impossible to suppress — and triggered a massive wave of shock.
Had the ancient tribes truly grown this arrogant? People everywhere were left deeply unsettled.
But then the follow-up news arrived: all seven ancient sages were dead. That announcement left people unable to believe what they were hearing — and it blew every shadow of gloom from their hearts.
“Gai Jiuyou has made his move — the supreme one who stood unrivaled eight thousand years ago has finally acted!”
“This senior ancient sage — once considered capable of proving the Dao — 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 it, not one was left unmoved. Many of the older generation trembled with excitement. Even though Gai Jiuyou was ancient in years, his life essence dried out and his body thoroughly aged — he could still fight.
Not just in Central Province and the surrounding regions — even in the farthest reaches of the Western Desert, a solitary ancient figure upon Mount Sumeru could no longer remain seated. He rose to his feet at the summit of Sumeru and gazed eastward toward the Eastern Wastelands.
Gai Jiuyou had arrived in the Northern Domain — drawing his sword for the first time in eight thousand years!
The world was shaken. This old man had brought the human Sacred Body to the Northern Domain to demand an accounting — to ask the ancient tribes why, again and again, they had dared to cast all rules aside. He was prepared to act.
Many of the ancient tribes’ great clans were gripped with dread. A being who had existed for nine thousand years was coming to prosecute them — and no one could foresee what scale of slaughter would follow in his wake.
All these years, no one had seen this human supremacy make a move. Many among the ancient tribes had reached the consensus that he was finished — that his realm had collapsed by a great measure, that he was nothing like his former self.
That line of thinking was not unreasonable. Even Great Emperors grow old. The soul withers, the body dries out, and combat power declines sharply.
History provided abundant examples. Consider the fully mature Sacred Body at the Sacred Cliff — in his prime, what a magnificent, awe-inspiring figure he had been. He swallowed mountains and rivers, roared and shook the heavens, could pluck stars from the sky, crack the sun apart, shatter constellations with a single roar.
But what was his end?
When his twilight came, his blood energy ran dry, his body deteriorated, and his peak power was gone. He was eventually struck down and killed — dying at the Sacred Cliff. The blood of a fully mature Sacred Body dyed that black mountain red. Even now, the faded stains of his spent life essence remain there.
Pitiable. Lamentable.
And yet — today, Gai Jiuyou had raised his hand and wiped out seven ancient sages, sage-kings among them. What the world had witnessed was his blood energy still alive, his vitality still burning, his former edge undiminished.
Gai Jiuyou had moved. He had brought Ye Fan to the Northern Domain. He was about to draw the most awe-inspiring sword strike the world had ever seen — and all of existence fell into breathless anticipation. The human race surged with exhilaration. The ancient tribes were gripped with fear. Every eye in the world was locked on what came next.