Everyone in the hall turned to stone. Humans and Ancient Clan members alike — every single person was dumbstruck, staring blankly in disbelief. It was entirely unexpected. Unsettling.

Even the divine dynasty assassins, who prided themselves on composure and ruthlessness, went rigid with cold shock from head to toe, feeling a creeping chill. The young man standing on the platform, smiling with such harmless pleasantness — was terrifyingly dangerous.

To trap his enemies, he had incorporated himself into the scheme. So who was the bait? The thought inspired nothing but dread.

“I do not like to step into other people’s rhythms.” Ye Fan stood on the high platform, perfectly composed, regarding the people below. “Rather than wait for you to set your own trap and force me out through whatever means you devised, I preferred to design my own — to satisfy your wishes. Naturally, the result ended up looking a little different. I am the one setting the pace now, not you.”

“What a grand plan — the setup began with the Five-Colored Altar. All that preparation, laid down from the very beginning.” A peak king-realm expert from the Fallen Feather Clan felt a sinking sensation in his chest, his expression darkening to its worst.

Everything involving the Five-Colored Altar had been shrouded in secrecy. During its construction, all information was rigorously sealed, making it impossible for outsiders to investigate. And when people went to great lengths to dig out the truth, they had already entered Ye Fan’s rhythm, moving entirely as he directed.

The matter of crossing the star domain was nothing more than a catalyst — a piece of groundwork. Layer within layer of traps, each one unfolding in sequence, drawing people in of their own accord, and ultimately generating new layers of the scheme by themselves.

When they dug out the “truth” and learned that Ye Fan intended to leave this ancient star domain, their conventional thinking led them naturally to the conclusion that this must be stopped — that he must be intercepted and killed, that he could not be allowed to cross the celestial void.

And at precisely this moment, Ye Fan added a perfectly timed push — another layer of the scheme, and Lin Jia was “put up for auction,” appearing just when needed.

At that point, regardless of whether Lin Jia actually existed, anyone operating in secret would understand this as an act of aggression against Ye Fan. Those who bore him enmity would naturally strike out, forming a combined force.

If the Lin Jia incident had not occurred, someone would surely have found another way to strike from the shadows — to keep Ye Fan from crossing the star domain, to devise some cruel and malicious trap. They would have set their own scheme regardless.

Ye Fan had simply satisfied them, taking the initiative to lead them into a smaller trap. Going against all conventional instinct, he had trapped himself — bringing all his enemies together at once.

Ye Fan fixed his gaze on the mysterious figure encased entirely in black armor and said: “Even had you understood there was no Lin Jia here, you would have come anyway — because you believed someone was acting against me and wanted to help eliminate me.”

As he spoke, he observed the black-armored figure’s reactions, using his formidable spiritual perception to capture fluctuations in the figure’s divine consciousness, trying to determine whether Lin Jia had fallen into their hands.

“You… knew I was coming?” The figure in black armor stumbled back several steps.

Ye Fan smiled coldly. He had obtained the answer he needed and paid no further attention. He then swept his gaze over the others, sensing the fluctuations of their divine consciousness. His expression became glacial, and a faint killing intent surfaced.

Every person knew it had gone wrong. They had fallen into the trap — they themselves were the ones who had been caught. They rushed out of the great palace and emerged in the desert, each moving to find favorable ground for defense.

Because escaping appeared to be extremely difficult. The edges of the desert were a vast expanse of white — all manner of mist rising up, flowing like primordial chaos, filled with oppressive pressure.

“There are so many of us here — even among us we have peak Great King-realm experts. Isn’t that more than enough to kill the three of them?!” someone said coldly.

Yet the others were all silent. This was no forcing of Ye Fan into a trap. They were the ones who had been bagged — and heaven only knew what kind of arrangements had been made here.

“Stand firm.” The two old men from the Fallen Feather Clan came forward, holding up the eight-treasure demon vessel between them. Its awe-inspiring pressure radiated outward, dissolving the order and law-force of the surrounding area.

“True. There is nothing to fear. The outcome is already set. I came specifically to end his life.” The figure in black armor regained his calm, walking forward with long strides. “More than twenty years — there has not been a moment I have not longed for this reunion. Ye Fan, the time has come for you to regret!” He struck off his helmet with force, intending to reveal his true face.

Ye Fan only smiled calmly. “A glorious return? I told you already — in my eyes, you will always be a small fish.”

“You truly know who I am?” The figure in black armor trembled from head to toe with rage, his emotions seemingly impossible to contain. He clenched his fists tight.

“You are none other than the utterly useless Li Changqing — someone who has never improved in the slightest.” Ye Fan said it lightly, as though it were nothing.

Clang.

Li Changqing hurled his helmet with force into the great hall at a distance, revealing his true face. His expression was near-savage, his entire body trembling, too furious to speak.

He had expected to appear before the crowd in a position of glory, radiant as a returning triumph, and to see Ye Fan’s face filled with shock and terror. He had not expected the other man to show not the slightest concern — to have anticipated everything long ago.

It was like carefully crafting and preparing a grand performance, only for there to be no audience at the moment of delivery. He had thrown a punch with all his strength into open air, and the discomfort was complete.

Twenty-some years had passed. Li Changqing’s appearance had not changed greatly — only he had grown somewhat paler, as though he never saw the sun and lived entirely in darkness.

“Ye Fan… no matter what you can foresee, no matter how brilliant and all-knowing you consider yourself, there is one thing you cannot change — you must die. No one can save you!” Li Changqing was unhinged.

He had endured this for over twenty years, dreaming of releasing this foul breath all the while. He had planned a high-profile entrance, a triumphant reveal — and instead, a few careless, contemptuous words had left him on the verge of vomiting blood.

“I told you that you haven’t improved, and you still refuse to accept it. You’ve already entered my rhythm — did you think I would come without making arrangements?” Ye Fan said with disdain.

“Unleash the divine curse from beyond the domain!”

Li Changqing roared, shaking the entire desert. A vast yellow sand began to swirl into the air and in an instant dirt and smoke billowed in every direction, swallowing heaven and earth.

In his hand appeared a blood-colored small figure. He shattered it, and it dissolved into streaks of blood-light that shot toward Ye Fan. The world turned bone-chilling cold, as if plunged into an ice pit. The sounds of wailing ghosts and howling spirits rang out.

“As expected — a killing blow. If one were caught off guard and struck by it, soul and body would both be scattered. This is a technique left behind by the Vicious Ghost!” Duan De said.

Above his head, the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lid manifested. Beneath his feet, a mysterious nine-star symbol appeared — a Source Heaven Sealing Formation that Ye Fan had specifically carved for him, burning through a massive expenditure of divine Source to catalyze the emperor weapon.

Boom.

The Heaven-Devouring Demon Lid released an emperor’s might — not truly revived, yet still overwhelming and boundless, beyond the resistance of ordinary people.

Every streak of blood-colored light was extinguished, unable to approach. It all dissolved into a shimmer of smoke and mist, dispersing into the desert.

Li Changqing’s color changed. A trace of fear crossed his face. He retreated continuously. What was supposed to be a situation of trapping a turtle in a jar, catching prey in a snare, had — against all expectation — come to this.

“Kill!”

The master of the first level of Purgatory from the Hell divine dynasty bellowed, his body flashing with a string of blue light. A spatial artifact opened. Dense, innumerable assassins appeared around him, vanishing into the desert in rapid succession to ambush Ye Fan and his companions.

Simultaneously, a realm master from the Mortal World bellowed in turn. An earthen-yellow radiance erupted, and assassins appeared in great sweeping waves.

At the same moment, the Primordial Lake, the Fallen Feather Clan, and the other great factions all moved. Spatial artifacts flashed one after another, and ten thousand soldiers appeared in an instant — banners flying, filling every part of this place like a surging tide, killing intent without end.

“Source Heaven Sealing Formation — kill!” Ye Fan roared.

The entire desert blazed with light. Every variety of divine pattern surged upward, interweaving into a vast web of order — like the scythe of death reaping lives.

Enormous quantities of Source energy combusted, transformed into threads of divine law, built into a vast Source Heaven Grand Formation that sealed off the entire desert and extinguished all signs of life.

Countless people fell to the ground. Head after head flew into the air. Blood sprayed and spattered like vivid blossoms in full bloom. Life after life was extinguished, severed by the beams of divine law, dissolving into a rain of light, scattered to the wind.

This was a massacre.

The Source Heaven Sealing Formation in the desert had been laid down over many days and nights, lying in patient wait for this moment — built entirely to reap living lives.

“Ahhh—!”

Cries of anguish rose one after another. This place was a scene of carnage, transformed into a purgatory on earth. Bones and corpses lay everywhere. It was a sight too terrible to look upon.

“Demon-Sealing Vessel — destroy it!” The two king-realm experts of the Fallen Feather Clan jointly catalyzed the eight-treasure demon vessel, sending a stream of dark light shining across the desert.

“If it were a Demon-Sealing Vessel refined by a Great Emperor, we would accept our defeat. But if it is not — then all of you may rest in peace.” Ye Fan spoke lightly and pointed, activating another formation pattern. The Wushi Slaughter Formation awakened, its light illuminating the sky.

Boom.

Killing energy swept through all ten directions. It was as though the age of creation had returned, when the ten thousand things were first born, and every variety of killing force was undying and eternal — surging across heaven and earth below.

It was a terrifying development. The Demon-Sealing Vessel shattered with a crack. The two king-realm experts vomited blood in great mouthfuls, their bodies covered in wounds, nearly broken apart completely.

The Wushi Slaughter Formation was only a single corner of the true formation, but its assault-force defied the heavens. Not one person present could withstand it. Cries of agony overlapped one another, and in the blink of an eye more than a thousand people were turned to bloody pulp — ground to pieces by the killing energy.

“Purgatory Sword, unsheathe — cleave through the vault of heaven!” The king-realm expert of the Hell divine dynasty bellowed until heaven and earth shook. A blood-dripping divine sword flew out — crimson and luminous, slashing toward Ye Fan and the others.

The sight was desolate and beautiful in equal measure. Along the blood-red blade, a line of blood droplets trailed, giving off a low humming cry. The world cracked and crumbled around it, the desert on the verge of ceasing to exist.

The many king-realm experts surged forward as one to catalyze the weapon together, offering it up as a single piercing beam of blood-light that dyed the entire world red — a gale of blood and carnage spreading without end.

“It’s incomplete. Not a true handed-down sacred weapon. Do you really think my Heaven-Devouring Demon Lid is a fake?” Duan De sneered coldly, drawing on the symbols etched into the ground to receive limitless divine power, funneling it into frenzied catalysis of that terrifying demon lid.

The blood sword came flying forward and then trembled — not daring to advance. Under the oppressive imperial aura, its radiance dimmed. The resonant connection between it and the king-realm experts behind it was severed.

Clang.

The Heaven-Devouring Demon Lid released its extreme Dao might. A streak of dark light emanated from it, and the Purgatory Blood Sword fell to the ground with a wail, without any resistance.

“Brother Duan doesn’t need to work so hard. I prepared three Wushi Slaughter Formations. Regardless of what they’ve prepared, none of it will be of any use,” Ye Fan said.

He raised his hand and pointed again and again. Two more slaughter formations awakened. In that instant, the entire world was filled with streaks of terrifying killing energy as thick as mountain ranges, surging upward throughout the desert, flooding the sky.

Shatter all.

Everyone who wanted to flee could not. The desert had long been blanketed with world-sealing grand formations — there was no way out for anyone. All ten directions were locked down.

In the center, three Wushi Slaughter Formations awakened together. Ancient symbols flickered. The light cut through the sky. Killing energy crisscrossed in every direction. Blood-blossoms bloomed one after another. This place had become a field of asura.

“Ahhhh—!”

Only screams emerged. Resistance was futile. Even king-realm experts caught within it could only die — there was no possible counter.

Pfft.

Li Changqing was swept by a slash of killing light, cut clean through at the waist, split into two halves. He let out continuous screams of agony. Ye Fan reached out and seized him, shouting a demand: “Where is the Vicious Ghost?!”

“Waiting… at the Tianduan Mountain Range… for you.” Li Changqing was seized with terror, begging desperately for his life — yet a dark light flashed within his brow. His entire body shriveled and dried out, becoming a skeleton. Then his skull exploded.

“Kill!” Duan De bellowed. The Heaven-Devouring Demon Lid trembled and shattered a streak of dark light, preventing it from escaping.

“Is the Tianduan Mountain Range also your… trap for yourself?” A master of one of Hell’s small worlds asked in desperate, dying resentment.

“That’s right. Everything proceeds at my pace. The main force of you assassin divine dynasties went to the Tianduan Mountain Range — good. I designated that as the primary battlefield as well!” Ye Fan laughed coldly.

“Ahhhh—!”

There was no exception. The three Wushi Slaughter Formations activated together and ground every last person to bloody pulp. Ten thousand soldiers and warriors were turned to mud. The entire desert was dyed red.

“I want all my enemies to appear at the Tianduan Mountain Range. Before I leave, let us have one final and decisive reckoning!” Ye Fan’s voice rang out across the sky above the desert.