Ye Fan had been beaten until the qi and blood throughout his entire body were in turmoil — his ears rang, his vision swam, and he nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Yang Yi was a true powerhouse of the Four Extremities, First Heaven, far stronger than any of Xu Yuan’s subordinates. Wielding the Vajra Ring, he was practically unstoppable.
After more than a hundred attempts, Ye Fan finally triggered the “All” Secret among the Nine Secrets once again. Against a weapon interwoven with the principles of Dao and Truth, even a powerful figure of the Four Extremities Realm could not be certain of escaping unscathed — he had no choice but to fight with everything he had.
Clang! Clang!
After successfully triggering the “All” Secret, Ye Fan removed his cauldron and held it in his left hand, launching it upward into the sky, while his other hand swung the God-Striking Whip in a fierce, violent collision with the Vajra Ring.
Ten times his combat power — at last he was holding his own against this terrifying precious ring. The sky itself was nearly shattered by the force; the deafening sound boomed like the sacred bells of an ancient celestial court.
The vast crimson earth trembled, beaten into ruin. Beneath the night sky, immense divine power raged in all ten directions like a surging, boundless ocean.
After trading dozens of full-force blows that made heaven and earth shudder, as the influence of the “All” Secret began to fade, Yang Yi’s face had finally turned snow-white, drained of every trace of color.
Hum!
The void shook. The Vajra Ring froze in mid-air, its silver radiance dazzling — it was ring-shaped, and it transformed into a black hole, devouring everything.
It was like a true black hole in the infinite stellar expanse, swallowing heaven and earth. Enormous boulders on the ground, boundless sand and soil — all of it reversed course and surged upward into the sky like rivers flowing backward.
The moment anything drew close, it was ground to powder and reduced to ash. Nothing could be preserved.
Whatever it was, the instant it made contact with that place, it would be reduced to fine dust — ceasing to exist entirely.
Ye Fan’s expression changed at once. He had not expected the Vajra Ring to be this terrifying, or that it could be used in such a way.
“A weapon interwoven with the very texture of heaven and earth — it’s too frightening, its power is beyond imagination!”
He brought out the Five-Colored Feather Fan he had seized earlier and fanned it with great force. The precious fan, capable of shattering mountains and rivers, stirred up a five-colored divine wind and sent it sweeping forward.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
But even a treasure like this proved useless. The Vajra Ring was now the size of a millstone, the black hole equally vast, possessing an incomparable devouring force.
A thunderous sound reached him — Ye Fan was seized by an enormous pulling force and dragged toward that black hole.
“Your ancestor, that bastard, actually treated me like a Holy Son…”
Ye Fan cursed. He hurled the Five-Colored Feather Fan forward with force, striking out ahead, while simultaneously enlarging his cauldron, preparing to ram it into the black hole.
Crack!
Something startling happened. The might of the Five-Colored Feather Fan was something Ye Fan had experienced firsthand — it was terrifyingly powerful. Yet at this moment, the precious fan was shattered within the black hole, destroyed in an instant.
Yes — it couldn’t even put up a single moment of resistance. In one flash of colored light, the Five-Colored Feather Fan became ash, and Ye Fan felt his heart lurch with alarm.
“I forgot to tell you — my ancestor was of the same generation as the Holy Master, and his treasures had already been interwoven with the texture of heaven and earth eight hundred years ago. Dying beneath this ring is no injustice!”
Yang Yi’s complexion had grown even paler. He had depleted far too much of his divine power. Formidable as the Vajra Ring was, it was not something he could wield freely at will.
Ye Fan said nothing. He triggered the “All” Secret once more, enlarged the cauldron to over nine meters in height, and smashed it upward with full force.
But the black hole formed by the Vajra Ring possessed inconceivable power — it actually began shrinking the cauldron and drawing it inward.
Ye Fan was alarmed. He hastily channeled his power and fought back with all his strength. The Mother Qi of All Things was a sacred object, but it had not yet given birth to the textured patterns of heaven and earth. It could not unleash divine arts; all it had was its indestructibility.
Clang!
Straining against the pull with his full strength, the cauldron had been reduced to just over three meters in height when it finally struck the Vajra Ring — the sky shook violently!
Yang Yi could no longer hold back. His face was utterly bloodless, and he opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Clang!
Ye Fan channeled the Mother Qi of All Things cauldron and slammed into it again with vicious force. The Vajra Ring shook violently.
Yang Yi took the impact and nearly tumbled down from high in the sky.
At this moment, Ye Fan surged upward, dodging the black hole, swinging the God-Striking Whip and hammering the rim of the ring-shaped Vajra Ring.
Hum!
The void shuddered. The Vajra Ring shrank to the size of a palm and spun in the void, its silver light flickering — the black hole vanished.
Yang Yi’s divine power was depleted; he could no longer sustain it, and the black hole disappeared as a result.
Ye Fan channeled the great cauldron, and the Mother Qi of All Things descended. With a single swoosh, he drew the Vajra Ring inside.
He had no desire to face this terrifying weapon again. Now that the Vajra Ring had been interwoven with Dao and Truth, its power was frightening enough to unsettle even him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Though Yang Yi’s divine power was fading, he persisted in urging the ring on, still wielding terrifying combat power. The Vajra Ring continued to strike from within the cauldron, battering it so that it hummed and shook, ringing out again and again.
Ye Fan endured it forcibly. He charged forward with the God-Striking Whip, swinging it in wide arcs, collapsing the void as he drove straight for Yang Yi’s skull.
Brilliant radiance flared as Yang Yi brought out seven or eight treasures — but how could any of them withstand the God-Striking Whip?
Crack! Crack!
The sounds of shattering came one after another. Every treasure was smashed apart, and the crystalline fragments of various precious objects transformed beneath the night sky into a dazzling shower of meteors, falling down through the heavens.
“Aahh—!”
Yang Yi’s divine sense was struck a devastating blow. He clutched his head and screamed in agony. Ye Fan swung the God-Striking Whip and brought it crashing down.
Crack!
His skull shattered. White brain matter and crimson blood splattered together as his corpse tumbled down from the sky.
At last, all was still. Stars dotted the heavens, the moonlight flowed like water, and the earth below was a scene of utter devastation, wrecked beyond recognition by this great battle.
Ye Fan descended to the ground and let out a long breath. This battle was finally over. The power of the Vajra Ring had exceeded imagination.
But the gains were equally enormous. From now on he would have the God-Striking Whip for close combat, and this precious ring for ranged attacks — the two complementing each other, his combat power could advance by an entire tier.
Beneath the bright moonlight, the Vajra Ring gleamed with crystalline beauty — silver-white throughout, its Dao-patterns natural, seemingly formed by heaven itself.
Ye Fan did not dare to be careless. He fixed it in place with the Mother Qi of All Things and then extended his divine sense to probe the interior of the ring. He felt that even if the great figure who had lent this treasure to Yang Yi left behind some kind of imprint, he needed to find it.
Sure enough, when he probed into the deepest part of the Vajra Ring, a dangerous aura came rushing at him.
Swish!
He quickly withdrew, and a strand of divine sense pursued him outward. A shadowy apparition appeared in the void and lunged at Ye Fan.
Crack!
Ye Fan struck directly with the God-Striking Whip — three rapid blows — reducing that strand of divine sense to ash.
He then probed the interior of the Vajra Ring once more. Inside it was pristine and immaculate, without flaw or blemish, a brilliant and crystalline expanse — like a stretch of starry sky.
“The interior of a weapon interwoven with Dao and Truth actually looks like this…” With that, Ye Fan was at ease. This precious ring now belonged to him completely.
This battle had also sharpened his awareness: even with the God-Striking Whip in hand, some weapons could not necessarily be shattered by it — and it could do nothing against an opponent’s divine sense.
Starlight poured down in a broad wash. Ye Fan carved the sixth character “Ye” — then shouldered the God-Striking Whip on his back and walked alone into the depths of the crimson earth, vanishing from sight.
Three days later, word spread out of Anzhou: two disciples cultivated by the reclusive elder of the Yao Guang Holy Land had died violent deaths, leaving behind only two severed heads — their bodies reduced to ash.
The only clue was that carved beside each of the two heads was the character “Ye” — vigorous and powerful, full of killing intent and provocation.
News that Ye Fan had killed Yao Guang disciples in Anzhou spread rapidly, and many people began pouring into the area.
Just one day later, word came from Kunzhou: Ye Fan had fought a great battle with Yao Guang disciple Qin Tai, and used the Vajra Ring to beat him into ash.
Once this news broke, many oases were shaken — especially figures of the older generation, all of whom knew the Vajra Ring was the weapon of a great figure within Yao Guang.
“What happened? How did Yao Guang’s greatest treasure end up in Ye Fan’s hands, used to reduce their own disciples to cinders?”
“Don’t you know yet? The lineage of Yao Guang’s reclusive elder wanted to compete with the orthodox Yao Guang lineage over the Holy Son selection, and dispatched their Ten Greatest Disciples to kill Ye Fan…”
Cultivators across the nearby oases were all buzzing with discussion.
“This is naked provocation. Yao Guang sent out ten elite fighters to hunt Ye Fan, and ended up having some of them killed in return.”
“Is Ye Fan really between Anzhou and Kunzhou? Could it be someone else’s doing?”
“It must be him. Someone witnessed it firsthand — the person who used the Vajra Ring to slay Qin Tai was absolutely him.”
Yang Yi, Gu Litian, and the others had been killed out in the crimson earth. No one had discovered their bodies yet. Just the three already confirmed dead was enough to throw the outside world into uproar.
That evening, the campfire flickered. Ye Fan rendezvoused with Tu Fei and the Black Emperor.
“Absolutely savage. When Yao Guang finds out, their faces will go green…” Tu Fei said upon learning the outcome. “I truly hope you can break the curse and enter the Four Extremities Realm, and restore the Desolate Holy Body’s unparalleled glory.”
Ye Fan said, “I’m counting on the Holy City of the Northern Region and its hundred-million-jin of source stones — it all depends on the stone material from the various Holy Lands.”
Tu Fei burst out laughing. “Ten elite fighters, and there’s only one left. If all of them are wiped out, and word of it spreads, the entire Northern Region will be shaken. I want to see where Yao Guang Holy Land can put its face.”
Two days later, Ye Fan, Tu Fei, and the Black Emperor tracked down the last man in Kunzhou. Ye Fan killed him too with the Vajra Ring, and many people who had heard the news arrived and witnessed it firsthand.
Ji Haoyue, Xia Jiuyou, and several Holy Sons all appeared at the scene. Ye Fan spotted them from a distance, then directly crossed through the void with the Black Emperor and Tu Fei and departed.
Without entering the Four Extremities Realm, he would never fight the Holy Sons — he avoided them at every opportunity.
With all matters in Anzhou and Kunzhou concluded, Ye Fan set out on the road to the Holy City of the Northern Region.
“Go find Li Heishui. For the better part of this past year, he has been appearing in and out of the Holy City…” — this was the information Tu Fei had given him before he left.
As Ye Fan finished his affairs and departed, Anzhou and Kunzhou were both thrown into shock — the bodies deep in the crimson earth were finally discovered one by one, and the six “Ye” characters carved upon them were a chilling sight.
Yao Guang was shaken. The many cultivators of the Northern Region were shaken!
The lineage of Yao Guang’s reclusive elder had dispatched ten disciples to hunt Ye Fan — yet all ten were killed between Anzhou and Kunzhou.
It was a resounding slap in the face, stripping Yao Guang Holy Land of all dignity. The so-called Ten Greatest Fighters had become a joke — every single one killed by Ye Fan alone.
Even the great treasure of a high figure within Yao Guang — the Vajra Ring — had fallen into Ye Fan’s hands. It was a truly shameful affair.
Ten lives for ten “Ye” characters — the ten elite disciples of Yao Guang’s reclusive lineage had all perished, stirring tremendous waves and leaving many people utterly dumbfounded, struggling to believe it.
“Those were the ten elite members of Yao Guang Holy Land’s reclusive lineage! Even if they can’t compare to Yao Guang’s most outstanding orthodox disciples, they were absolutely extraordinary — and Ye Fan killed every last one of them alone?!”
“This… is difficult to believe!”
The vast majority of people had only heard about this battle and never witnessed it personally, yet the story still spread like wildfire.
Among the younger generation, every Holy Son took note. They didn’t care about Ye Fan’s current strength — even if he reached the Fifth Heaven, they paid it no mind. But what if he broke the curse and crossed into the Four Extremities Realm?
The moment everyone considered that outcome, a chill ran through them — even Ji Haoyue of the Divine King Body, and the supremely gifted Xia Jiuyou, all fell into deep thought.
Yet almost unanimously, no one believed Ye Fan could break the curse, for past Desolate Holy Bodies cultivated by the great Holy Lands had all been stopped at the Dao Palace Realm without exception.
This storm swept through the Northern Region. Ye Fan heard much of it along the way. Half a month later, he finally drew near to the Holy City of the Northern Region.