Before the battlefield, Ye Fan stood alone, sword raised to the sky, its blade stained with blood. Not a single person from the Wang Family dared to step out and answer his challenge — a silence like a void filled the air.

“Where is Wang Teng? Is there anyone brave enough to come out and fight?” Ye Fan faced the assembled powers alone.

Still, no one emerged. Ye Fan understood clearly that Wang Teng must not have been within the clan. Otherwise, given Wang Teng’s nature, he would long since have come out — he could never have waited until now.

Before the sacred earth, the Wang Family’s morale had collapsed. Not a single person dared to step forward. This weighed heavily on many hearts, drawing silent sighs — a kind of fighting spirit and red-bloodedness had been lost.

On the other side, the Barbarian King and the Dark King were locked in fierce, life-or-death combat — ancient barbarian battle energy surging outward, dark demonic energy flooding the air. Both sides had pushed the battle to a white-hot intensity.

Pu!

A jarring splash of blood bloomed — a stream of pitch-black liquid gushed out, the Dark Demon King’s blood. Every drop pierced through the void, carving Dao traces in its wake, as phantoms of divine demons materialized.

One of the Dark King’s forearms was wrenched away by the Barbarian King, blood streaming freely. But the Dark King fought back in a frenzy — his severed arm sprayed demonic blood, boring a hole clean through the Barbarian King’s chest.

Two kings in contest: one whose name had shaken the world for thousands of years, the other who had hidden away in seclusion in the Southern Ridge for over a millennium before returning to the world once more. Truly, a meeting of an irresistible force with an immovable object.

But the Wang Family’s people all wore grim expressions, because they knew — the Dark King could not hold out for much longer. Reserves, once exposed to light, would lead to death. Unless the Barbarian King could be slain in rapid succession, there was no way to reverse the tide of battle.

The great battle grew ever more intense. Both sides began matching each other in their mastery of the Dao, with all manner of secret arts being deployed in rapid succession.

In that moment, strange phenomena descended from the heavens: sweet dew welled up from the earth. Lotus flowers drifted through the air. The divine sounds of the great Dao resonated and swirled, engulfing both kings within.

“Children — what are you still waiting for?! The time has come to avenge our kinsmen! Let our horses trample this ancient clan into the earth and erase their name from the world!” The Barbarian Clan Chief swept his arm forward and personally blew the war horn.

Wuu-wuu…

The ancient war horn of ox bone let out a sound like muffled thunder — as though some vast creature were bellowing low — the vibrations making the ears of everyone present ring and buzz.

Tens of thousands of iron cavalry charged in unison. The sight was terrifying. From above and below, they swept forward like a black mountain flood breaking loose.

Above and below, in every direction — the sky was filled with figures, shouting and killing shaking the heavens!

“Kill…!”

“Trample this ancient clan into the ground!”

“March over the Wang Family — erase them from the world!”

The barbarian cavalry roared in unison, their voices causing the sky itself to cave inward — like tens of thousands of enormous drums thundering together, deafening.

Attacking an ancient clan — to most people this would be something utterly inconceivable in any ordinary time, something not even dared to be imagined. And yet now, it was truly about to become reality.

Tens of thousands of iron cavalry poured into the Northern Plains, treading upon the Wang Family’s innermost territory — their killing cries shaking the heavens!

The Dark King wanted to intervene and block their path, but it was absolutely impossible. He was already fully entangled with the Barbarian King — and at any moment, the risk of his own destruction loomed.

“Kill…!” Ye Fan, Li Tian, and Yan Yixi also moved, plunging into the sea of combatants, cutting down powerful enemies.

Ye Fan with a long blade in his left hand and an iron sword in his right swept through the fray — a single sweep clearing out a swathe of the battlefield. Young corpses and white-haired heads alike fell before him, sweeping all before him — no one could resist.

In the sky, war chariots, ancient ships, and fortresses all rose into the air to oppose the barbarian army. The sky bled crimson, and below, bones piled like mountains.

When armies clash, individual power — unless overwhelmingly great — appears quite small, easily drowned in the tide.

Ye Fan was peerlessly fierce. He smashed several divine steel cities forged from refined gold, driving deep into the sacred earth, striking in all directions, fighting without restraint.

“Kill…!”

This was a world drenched in blood — a land of white bones scattered everywhere, corpses blanketing the ground, a killing ground filled with cruelty and gore.

Every great battle has always been this way. What later generations describe as radiant glory and divine rings of brilliance — that is merely the embellishment of those who came after.

A true battlefield is full of blood and bone. It is savage. It is horrifying. Filled with slaughter. No right and wrong — in that moment, there is only life and death.

Now, no one had the capacity to think of anything else. There was only blood and battle: to keep living, to survive, one could only fight to the end and decide the victor.

“Kill…!” People shouted, beasts howled. Many people had screamed their voices raw. Weapons had dulled from cutting too many times. Bodies were soaked in blood and riddled with wounds — but still they charged and slaughtered.

“We have no choice but to reveal all our reserves. Even if it means being exposed to light and death, even if it means our days as an ancient clan are over — because there is simply no other option now. Otherwise, annihilation of the clan is imminent.” An elder of the Wang Family roared.

“In my capacity as acting clan head, I command all honored elders — open the eternal divine treasury, reveal every last reserve, and annihilate all enemies!” Wang Chengshen bellowed.

From within the sacred earth came an immediate wave of terrifying aura. A purple-lightning hammer flew up, releasing a brilliance that illuminated the ages — dazzling to the point of terror!

This was the Wang Family’s supreme sacred weapon — forged by the hand of a human great saint, a hundred times more terrifying than the incomplete hammer that Ye Fan had seized.

The infinite patterns of heaven and earth’s great Dao interweaved all around it, with thousands upon thousands of purple lightning bolts spreading outward — like primordial purple energy rising in great billowing clouds.

One fearsome sacred weapon, whose emanating might alone immediately halted over ten thousand cavalry — as though it were capable of destroying three thousand great worlds.

With a thunderous boom, from the barbarian army’s side, a stone axe rose on high, hanging fixed in the firmament — radiating an equally terrifying aura, as though it could pierce through all of ancient and modern time.

It too was interwoven with infinite Dao patterns, with thousands of divine power threads like silk, sheltering all the cavalry within.

Pu!

A bloom of black blood-flowers unfurled — and on the other side of the battlefield, the duel between kings had produced its outcome.

The Dark King’s body split asunder. His upper half was splattered with great patches of dark blood and sent flying horizontally — the Barbarian King’s swinging bone club had smashed him in two while he still lived. The lower half was long since reduced to meat paste.

“Ahh…!” The Dark King screamed. Dark blood poured from his entire body. Even his upper half was riddled with fractures.

The Barbarian King’s divine power was extraordinary. He let out a great shout that made mountains and rivers tremble. Swinging the bone club, he brought it down with devastating force. The force of the wind alone carved the ground dozens of zhang deep, sending shattered rocks flying like clouds.

He was pressing the pursuit, giving his enemy no chance to rally and deliver a dying counterattack. The death strike of a supreme king at the very peak of his power was exceptionally terrifying — capable of producing an unexpected reversal.

“Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, Dark…” Sure enough, the Dark Demon King had begun to growl, uttering words like a curse.

“Kill!” The Barbarian King’s voice thundered across the sky. He swung the club down, forcing the words from his enemy’s lips before they could be spoken.

Chi!

Simultaneously, a streak of azure light came flying — sharp as an arrowhead — piercing clean through the Dark King’s body. The Azure Dragon moved at the critical moment. Its one remaining dragon horn detached itself, severing the Dark King’s head.

“Die!” The Barbarian King bellowed, and the bone club came smashing down — with a single sound, it crushed the Dark King’s skull completely. Brain matter and blood splattered outward, his body and spirit annihilated together.

A demon king who had cultivated for over four thousand years and had then self-sealed for another one thousand five hundred — was dead. The Wang Family fell into chaos!

With a thunderous boom, a powerful and imposing young man emerged from within the sacred earth alongside the purple-lightning hammer. Lightning sparked from his eyes. He was radiantly powerful, looking down upon the world with contempt, his entire body enveloped in the markings of the great Dao.

Without a word, he immediately charged toward the Barbarian King, intent on finishing him in a single blow.

“Northern Polar Immortal Light!”

The Barbarian King was stunned. He soared upward with extreme speed to the vault of heaven, grasped the supreme stone axe in his hands, and brought it down with full force.

Boom!

The power of the great saint’s weapon erupted — overwhelming and all-encompassing — colliding with that young man. The very sky shuddered.

“That young man is terrifyingly powerful — nearly entering the domain of a saint!” Li Tian was horrified.

At this critical moment, the divine spirit within the stone axe awakened and charged outward — a hazy ball of radiance that blocked the young man’s path. He could not break through.

Boom!

The Divine Maiden Furnace stirred to life. Ye Fan used it to shield the barbarian warriors, deeply afraid that the Wang Family might unleash yet another reserve to strike at them.

That imposing young man was extraordinarily terrifying. Locked in a standoff with the divine spirit within the stone axe, he caused heaven and earth to collapse around him, ravaging everything in all directions.

Finally, after a brief moment, he gradually grew faint — slowly fading — and ceased to exist.

The divine spirit’s radiance returned into the stone axe. The Barbarian King coughed up great mouthfuls of blood, gravely wounded. Even with the protection of a great saint’s weapon, he had nearly perished — one could only imagine how terrifying that young man had just been.

“I had not expected that your Wang Family’s reserves contained a strand of Northern Polar Immortal Light.” The Barbarian King stanched his bleeding and swallowed a precious elixir, restoring his vitality.

Many people were astonished — even among the Wang Family themselves, only a handful had known of this reserve within the clan.

The Northern Polar Immortal Light — also called the Light of Undying — could merge with a person’s primal spirit through the Dao, allowing one to remain in an undying state. When needed, it could unleash a devastating strike to shake the heavens.

However, once it delivered that single strike, it would dissolve its Dao and exist in this world for only a brief moment — incapable of enduring for long. In ordinary times it was suppressed by a supreme sacred weapon, never to emerge into the world.

Only in the Northern Polar regions did it exist. Once every hundred thousand years, a single strand would ascend. From ancient times to the present, only a few individuals had ever seen it, and this was the first time people had witnessed anyone merging with the Northern Polar Immortal Light through the Dao.

“The person who gathered and refined the Northern Polar Immortal Light did not ultimately attain full sainthood. Otherwise, I would already be dust.” The Barbarian King murmured to himself.

That the Wang Family possessed such reserves had exceeded everyone’s expectations. The barbarian cavalry fell back. Protected by the stone axe and the Divine Maiden Furnace, they temporarily halted their attack.

“Unleash everything — we must kill every last savage!” Wang Chengshen and his people were frantic. Dozens of great powers had nearly all been slain. Two reserves had already been destroyed. If the tide of battle was not reversed now, annihilation of the clan was inevitable.

Every member of the Wang Family retreated into the sacred earth, working together to channel the purple-lightning hammer. It released hundreds of millions of streaks of light — the sacred weapon fully awakening. It was as though a great saint from antiquity had returned to life, a column of purple light shooting to the sky.

In that moment, any number of powerful factions across the entire Northern Plains were seized with shock. Many powerful figures simultaneously tilted their heads back to gaze at the distant horizon, watching that column of purple light.

“Hou…!”

Tens of thousands of cavalry gathered together, also jointly channeling the stone axe. An equally oceanic surge of saint-level power erupted — the weapon fully awakening as well.

“And we have this one!” Ye Fan shouted, offering up the Divine Maiden Furnace and suspending it high in the heavens.

A single person hoping to fully awaken a sacred weapon — impossible. But tens of thousands of cavalry working together was an entirely different matter. Their vital energy and blood rose like steam, everyone channeling it together — and the Divine Maiden Furnace also blazed with dazzling, breathtaking radiance.

Moreover, in that same instant, it expanded to its full size, instantly filling the entire sky — no longer the mere fist-sized object it had appeared when resting in Ye Fan’s palm. This was its true form, capable of crushing all the heavens.

The Wang Family’s people all went white as snow. Everyone was trembling. Two great saint’s weapons appearing simultaneously was simply terrifying. They had only one sacred weapon passed down through the generations — how could they stand against two?

“Don’t be afraid — our clan’s reserves run deep. They cannot win.”

“Our clan has more than ten kinds of reserves. We will not be destroyed!”

“Bring out our clan’s most powerful reserves! Even if it means a sea of blood and mountains of bones across the world — we have no other choice!”

The Wang Family’s people roared, launching a final desperate struggle.

Boom!

A flash of radiance from the purple-lightning hammer — and from the inner world that it had generated, a source block as pure and crystalline as snow came flying out.

Ye Fan was startled. This was undoubtedly a divine source — but unlike any he had seen before. It was not blinding. Rather, it was resplendent like the stars, its brilliance gentle and soft.

Long ago, in the divine city of the northern regions, a beautiful young woman had been discovered sealed within exactly this kind of divine source.

Now, within this source block was a ferocious beast. Its appearance was terrifying, with three heads: the central one was that of a dragon, while to either side were the heads of an ape and a bird.

It was not large — barely two meters in length — yet its body was covered in scales like divine iron, its frame powerful and vigorous, and its presence was deeply awe-inspiring.

The very moment it emerged into the world, it trembled once — then released a sweeping, all-encompassing aura. In an instant, half the people present had gone soft and collapsed to the ground.

“This is our clan’s most powerful reserve. If you can defeat it, we concede. Wait to be annihilated yourselves — otherwise, all of you are going to die!” The Wang Family’s governing council screamed in near-madness. At this point, they truly had nearly lost all composure.

“A Primordial Ancestral Beast!” The Barbarian King was stunned.

“This… I feel an aura as vast as that of a saint…!” Li Tian’s hair stood on end.

“You actually used a supreme sacred weapon to seal and protect such an ancestral beast. If it were to emerge in the world, blood would flow like rivers — it would go on a killing rampage without end.” The Barbarian Clan Chief called out in a commanding voice.

“You forced our hand. Now all of you — go and die!” The Wang Family’s people screamed in frenzy.

“Not necessarily. No matter how many reserves you have, my barbarian clan fears none of them. We need only one War God!” The Barbarian King roared.

Boom!

The stone axe in the sky opened its inner pocket world, and a towering man sealed within a divine source appeared — like a war god incarnate.

This was a complete, intact divine source — clearly formed from condensed divine source liquid, without a single seam. It stood over two meters tall.

Within it was a powerfully built man, perhaps thirty or forty years of age. His beard bristled like steel needles, his mouth was wide, his eyes as large as bronze bells, his skin the color of ancient bronze — dressed in beast-skin garments, like a war god reborn.

“What — formed from divine source liquid, immune to death upon seeing light — they have reserves like this?!” The Wang Family’s people fell into despair. They could feel an aura emanating from him — capable of suppressing that ancestral beast. Even the beast had begun to tremble.

Hum!

This man, so like a war god, though still sealed within the divine source block, appeared now to have awakened. In that instant, he imposed his absolute dominance upon heaven and earth, making all ten directions shudder.

“Long live the War Ancestor!”

“Long live the seventeenth generation great ancestor!”

All the barbarian warriors cried out in unison, their voices resounding through heaven and earth.

Boom!

The man — so like a war god — did not break free from the divine source. He charged forward with the source block still encasing him. His supreme might nearly drove everyone to their knees on the ground.

That ancestral beast also did not break free from its source. It soared upward — and fled. One could well imagine the depth of the fear in its heart.

All the Wang Family’s people fell into despair. They knew the extinction of their clan had descended upon them. Even with all their reserves fully deployed, there was nothing left to turn the tide — no one could stand against that war god.

“The Wang Family is finished.” Ye Fan knew — there could be no miracle now. The barbarian clan’s reserves were truly world-shaking.

This battle was about to draw to its close. The five domains were about to be shaken to their foundations.

What had not been achieved in a hundred thousand years was now being accomplished — horses trampling an ancient clan, an undying lineage marching toward its end.