“Retrieve!”

The Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect roared, his long hair in disarray, silver strands flying wildly. He exerted every ounce of his power to control the Divine Lihuo Furnace, attempting to draw Ye Fan back inside.

The bronze furnace shook, its entire body crystalline and translucent, fire surging to the heavens, swelling violently. The furnace mouth gaped like a black hole, madly devouring everything in its surroundings.

Boom!

Nearby, a verdant peak shuddered, its summit collapsing. A mountain top over twenty meters tall snapped clean off in an instant, sucked into the Divine Lihuo Furnace as though it were mere dust.

Crack!

The green mountain continued to split apart, larger stones and chunks of the mountainside breaking away ceaselessly, hurtling toward the terrifying furnace.

It was a sight that chilled the soul. The power of the Divine Lihuo Furnace surpassed imagination—it possessed the might to uproot mountains and boil seas, the strength to swallow the heavens themselves.

Though Ye Fan had forced his way out, the furnace below still dragged at him, pulling him down, threatening to draw him back into that blazing inferno. At the same time, five-colored radiance swirled as the furnace lid came flying back, driving straight toward him, intent on pressing him back inside and sealing him there once more.

Clang!

Ye Fan’s eyes sharpened like blades. A great golden palm print came crashing down, striking the five-colored furnace lid and sending it spinning away.

“Retrieve!”

The Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect grew desperate. He spat three mouthfuls of life essence blood in succession, spraying them onto the furnace, binding his very spirit to it as he poured every last measure of his strength into driving this great killing instrument.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Boulders tumbled and ancient trees were ripped from the earth, all flying toward that great black hole hanging in the sky, swallowing everything indiscriminately.

Nearby, the shattered mountain collapsed another twenty-odd meters, instantly drawn into the powerful divine furnace, where it was reduced directly to drifting ash.

The Divine Lihuo Furnace refined all things. The furnace mouth was pitch black, like a gateway to the deepest pit of hell, without end as far as the eye could see.

Clang!

Ye Fan was forcibly yanked downward, yet he did not plunge into the bronze furnace. Instead, both feet came down hard upon the furnace mouth, like a ten-thousand-catty hammer striking it full force.

A long, resonant iron tone rang out, splitting metal and cleaving stone. All eighteen peaks of the Azure Peaks trembled. Many people cried out in agony, clutching their ears as they tumbled from the distant sky, blood seeping between their fingers.

Ye Fan’s feet left deep impressions upon the furnace mouth, as though he carried the strength to kick apart the heavens. The entire furnace shuddered violently beneath him.

Not far away, the Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect bled from his nose and mouth, and hairline fractures began to appear across the surface of his body.

“This…” The Supreme Patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave grew anxious. The demonic painting he had deployed was too far away to harm Ye Fan, yet moving it closer risked having it swallowed by the bronze furnace.

Standing atop the furnace mouth, facing this great bronze furnace as tall as a mountain peak, Ye Fan planted himself firmly, his body like a tree rooted to the spot. Even the tremendous devouring force could not shake him.

Clang!

Both his hands moved like windmill blades, striking the furnace again and again in rapid succession, sending waves of booming thunder rolling through the air.

The Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect trembled, needing to channel an enormous flood of divine power just to keep this killing instrument moving—he had become one with the bronze furnace.

Though the furnace was massive, it swayed ceaselessly, on the verge of being toppled at any moment, rumbling and roaring as flames shot to the heavens.

Ye Fan’s golden palm strikes were more terrifying than any divine treasure another might wield. He hammered the bronze furnace until it rang to the very heavens, leaving row upon row of clear finger impressions across its surface.

Pfft!

The Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect could hold on no longer. His Dao power was nearly exhausted. He coughed up mouthfuls of blood and swayed violently, on the verge of tumbling from the sky.

Ye Fan’s divine strength was boundless and inexhaustible—peerless among cultivators of the same realm. His offensive power had not diminished in the slightest; it only grew stronger and stronger.

Clang!

At last, a single palm strike sent the Divine Lihuo Furnace flying—still impossible to shatter, yet enough to send that hundred-meter colossus hurtling away into the distance.

Peerless battle power, spirit surging like a rainbow, an indestructible sacred art of attack and slaughter—Ye Fan’s divine might was awe-inspiring as he struck the Divine Lihuo Furnace away by sheer force.

At that moment, he wheeled around. Though still of youthful bearing, his edge was impossible to conceal. He trod upon the void and launched himself toward the Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect.

In the distance, every young disciple stood frozen, too terrified to draw breath.

“Hmph!”

The Supreme Patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave gave a sharp cry and finally moved again. The demonic painting in his hands unfurled with a rushing sound, spreading across the sky in an instant, like a great river cutting off the path ahead.

Ye Fan gave a low cry. His hands shifted and changed without pause, forming seal after seal at blinding speed. Illusions blossomed in every direction, hazy and indistinct—like the Thousand-Armed Guanyin, like a multi-armed demon.

A phoenix cry shook the heavens. A fire phoenix burst upward, setting the sky ablaze, spreading its wings with a long cry, divine feathers blazing, its overwhelming phoenix majesty sweeping across the high heavens.

The fire phoenix filled the sky—like ten thousand cavalry charging in full gallop, like rows of ancient war chariots crushing across the vault of heaven, rumbling and resounding, shaking the celestial dome.

“This is…” The Supreme Patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave stared in astonishment. This fire phoenix was even more powerful than the one that had burst from the bronze furnace.

“How did he conjure a fire phoenix?!” The disciples of the Lihuo Sect were utterly stunned.

The Nine Secrets were supreme and unsurpassed techniques—great arts of attack and slaughter. Once truly comprehended, they transformed endlessly, inexhaustible in their killing forms. Every new insight yielded a different great art of destruction.

Earlier, while sealed inside the Divine Lihuo Furnace and facing an overwhelming sea of fire, Ye Fan had experienced an epiphany. Now, he formed the Fire Phoenix Seal.

Boom!

The fire phoenix descending from the sky, carrying an all-consuming blaze, swept toward the enormous demonic painting. The two collided in a fierce clash, and fire erupted everywhere.

As the fire phoenix and demonic painting locked in battle, terrifying energy permeated the air, flashing without cease. Ye Fan crossed through the sky and appeared before the Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect.

Now, no one could save him. Ye Fan’s killing intent blazed, his battle power surged to full heat, and a palm came cleaving forward.

Slap!

A dozen weapons were all ground to powder by the Sacred Art of Battle, and the great golden palm struck the Supreme Elder of the Lihuo Sect squarely, shattering his physical body in an instant.

Even his skull, spared from a direct sweep of those golden fingers, still shattered of its own accord—white brain matter splashing like curdled soy as it sprayed outward.

Pfft!

Ye Fan swept a backhand strike outward. His golden palm, vast as a millstone, reduced everything in the sky to flying ash, leaving nothing behind in the end.

“A devil king—this Daoist is a devil king!”

In the distant sky, the disciples of the Lihuo Sect had gone bloodless with shock. This outcome was beyond their ability to accept. Their sect’s greatest master, wielding the sacred furnace that had stood as the sect’s guardian for generations, had been reduced to ash. How could they possibly resist?

They wanted to flee, but found the Azure Peaks sealed, with no way out whatsoever. One by one, their faces turned the grey of ash.

The Supreme Patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave felt his heart go half-cold. Even the Divine Lihuo Furnace could not subdue this young Daoist—he knew that today, the odds were overwhelmingly against him.

The demonic painting billowed with a rushing sound, like an entire world rising and sinking, covering the sky, pressing down toward Ye Fan. Thousands of purple rays, countless wisps of mist—a great vortex appeared, seeking to pull Ye Fan into the painting.

But alas, though the painting was extraordinary, it could not match the Divine Lihuo Furnace, and was entirely unable to draw Ye Fan inside.

Boom!

Ye Fan spread both arms wide and struck upward at the sky. Sacred arts of attack and slaughter shifted and changed without end. For a full quarter of an hour, he fought until even the vault of heaven trembled!

Crack!

At last, Ye Fan split the void with his bare hands, tearing apart the enormous demonic painting that had shrouded the heavens!

The Supreme Patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave cried out, but could do nothing to change what was happening.

Ye Fan crossed the distance in an instant. His great golden hand spread to cover the sky, pressing down and trapping the patriarch beneath it.

He sealed off that entire expanse of sky, pushed his cultivation to its absolute limit, and unleashed his most devastating battle power.

Great arts of slaughter poured forth in endless succession!

Without the slightest suspense, golden fists drove through, reducing the Supreme Patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave to pieces, his eyes dying open in unwilling resentment.

The golden fist wind reverberated, and the Supreme Patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave was reduced to smoke and ash, struck from this world forever.

Throughout this process, the former patriarch of the Xuanyue Cave had deployed untold numbers of weapons, and even several divine deities within his body had burst forth—none of it sufficient to stop what was happening.

Separated by one realm, divided by one layer of heaven—Ye Fan, a mortal, had struck against an immortal and crossed a realm boundary to slay his enemy. It was done.

Ye Fan stood still in the void, black hair drifting, eyes clear as water, Daoist robes pristine. He had slain two great masters without a single drop of blood staining him.

“Spare… me.” Du Chenqgun, the head disciple and sect master of the Lihuo Sect, spoke with a trembling voice.

Ye Fan turned. With a light tap of one finger, a soft pfft sounded—a blood blossom bloomed upon Du Chenqgun’s forehead, and he fell dead on the spot.

“You…” Li Youran, a disciple of the Xuanyue Cave, revealed terror in his eyes and rapidly retreated.

Pfft!

Ye Fan extended another finger. A blood blossom bloomed between Li Youran’s brows as well, and she fell backward to the ground.

“Don’t kill us…” The others trembled.

Ye Fan said nothing. He simply extended his divine sense, sweeping it across all directions.

He was not a man who delighted in killing—but in this blood-soaked Northern Region, there were those who had to die.

The Lihuo Sect and the Xuanyue Cave were like the Azure Peaks Sect—sects in name only, while in secret they committed great evils: pillaging in all directions, treating human life as worthless as grass, their hands drenched in blood, their crimes heaped high.

Ye Fan scanned their sea of consciousness with his divine sense, then his ten fingers struck in rapid succession. Beams of light shot outward, and streaks of blood blossomed in the air.

Grass and trees were stained with blood as he drifted through. Corpse after corpse was left in his wake.

When Ye Fan finally stopped, the Azure Peaks Sect had not a single living soul left. Over seventy people had died violently, slain by him without mercy.

He let out a long sigh, then stepped down the ancient stone steps, one step at a time, walking away.

Killing was not a pleasant thing. No one wished to stain their hands with blood; no one was born without feeling. Yet he’d had no choice but to act.

Some people had to be killed. When facing those deserving of death, a soft heart amounted to condoning evil.

Ye Fan felt he was not a bad person—yet he could not claim to be a saint of boundless mercy either. How many evildoers were there in the world? He could not possibly hunt them all down across the land. He could only act when he encountered them and when it was within his power to do so.

Hum!

The Divine Lihuo Furnace rose from the earth, flying over from the thirteenth azure peak. It shrank slowly, becoming just one inch tall, appearing in the palm of Ye Fan’s hand—its entire body glistening brilliantly, with waves of scorching heat radiating from it.

Clatter!

Five-colored wisps of mist drifted over, and the furnace lid was drawn to Ye Fan’s hand as well. He pressed it onto the bronze furnace, perfectly fitted, seamlessly joined—a glittering, exquisitely beautiful whole.

On the furnace body were some faint carved designs, very unclear—likely worn away by the passage of countless ages.

Vaguely, one could make out a sun, and several divine birds, the markings blurred and difficult to distinguish.

“Surely this can’t actually be the Supreme Dao weapon—a replica of the Solar Divine Furnace?”

Ye Fan’s fingers turned golden as he squeezed with all his strength, still unable to damage the divine furnace now barely an inch tall.

Through this battle, he had come to feel the gap between different realms. One realm above him, and striking a mortal blow against an immortal had already put him under considerable pressure. Two levels higher, and the odds would surely be overwhelmingly against him.

But he had seen his own potential. He felt the extraordinary nature of the Nine Secrets—if his realm could advance further, he would fear nothing!

Ye Fan left the Azure Peaks Sect and flew directly toward the Luoxia Sect, taking on the appearance of the Lihuo Sect’s Supreme Elder and cutting his way inside.

At the mountain gate, he deployed the Divine Lihuo Furnace, and in an instant flames surged to the heavens, turning one of the immortal peaks there into a sea of fire.

Afterward, he put away the bronze furnace and turned his attack on the Seven Stars Pavilion. Using the Divine Lihuo Furnace to unleash a sky-filling blaze, he burned two immortal peaks to nothing, then drifted away.

Ye Fan paid it no further attention. With his wide sleeves billowing, he came to the Xuanyue Cave—to Wushi the Great Emperor’s former dwelling.

Stone cliffs rose in clusters. Not a blade of grass grew there. It was a place of profound desolation.

At the most remote and secluded spot, a shattered stone mountain bore an ancient cave. Ages passed like water; the void resonated like sound. It was as though the great Dao itself flowed forth from within.

Ye Fan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at three lines of ancient characters on the cliff face—nearly worn smooth by time.

“The Dao stretches vast and unknowable; the heart wanders free and unbound; the ten thousand things cycle on, flawless and unchallenged.”

The silent, desolate ground gave one the feeling of endless ages—time without end.

The imperial jade in Ye Fan’s hand grew warm against his palm, radiating a gentle, luminous glow that flowed out between his fingers.