Within the temple, white flowers bloomed one after another — each petal flecked with blood, their fragrance cold and pure, scattered into every corner. These were the flowers of the Dao, trembling as they sang.
Hua Yunfei battled Ye Fan with every technique brought to bear — one like an immortal descended from heaven’s cold heights, the other boiling over with battle spirit, like a god reborn through fire.
A path without freedom of choice. A pitiable future. A chess piece in another’s game. Was this the life of Hua Yunfei?
Ye Fan did not know, nor could he fully understand the details. At this moment, there was only one path: fight to the death. Perhaps, just as Li Xiaoman had said, this was a battle of fate — a final curtain call.
“Pop!”
Vivid five-colored blood and golden blood bloomed together, the two mixing as they fell — strange and breathtaking — flower after flower of it scattering through the air.
At this point, words were useless. This was a confrontation between life and death. One step back meant falling into the abyss. One step forward meant living more vividly than ever before. The two faced each other head-on, their battle unceasing.
Lights of every kind danced through the air. Ye Fan fought drenched in blood, his courage unstoppable — yet his opponent’s spirit and energy had also climbed to an absolute peak, and cutting him down was no easy task.
The Heaven-Devouring Demon Art was a cultivation method that defied the natural order — it had absorbed part of the primal essence of long-dead ancient saints and claimed it as its own. This exceeded all reason, having somehow evaded heaven’s reckoning. The current Hua Yunfei was extraordinarily dangerous.
Ye Fan’s right hand transformed into a great golden millstone covered in mysterious patterns, shattering heaven and earth with each strike — while Hua Yunfei moved with airy lightness and translucent clarity, his hands constantly weaving, shooting forth strands of clear radiance to dissolve each blow.
A dragon cry shook the nine heavens. In Ye Fan’s right hand appeared a terrifying immortal sword, shaped like a great dragon — its head at the front, its body the blade, its tail the hilt — held firm in his grip.
The Supreme Emperor Sword!
He raised it high with his right hand and slashed diagonally downward, threads of chaos energy spilling forth along the sharp edge of the blade — thousands upon thousands of strands of clear radiance emanating from it, carrying the might of the most supreme Emperor’s weapon.
Hua Yunfei was like an exiled immortal, flowing five-colored immortal radiance as he drifted and soared, his robes billowing — as though he might ride the wind up into the nine heavens.
Yet the Supreme Emperor Sword, manifested through the Battle Scripture, locked onto him unyieldingly. Dragon scales grew in reverse along the sword’s body, almost indistinguishable from a true Emperor’s weapon — every single scale shining, interwoven together, its killing intent endless!
“Clang!”
Ten thousand killing intentions fused into one — becoming a ray of eternal light, a great dragon that shed itself from the Supreme Emperor Sword and shot toward Hua Yunfei’s chest, boundless chaos surging alongside it.
It was a wondrous sight — like a true dragon descending from the nine heavens. The Supreme Emperor Sword’s very body erupted with this dragon radiance, indestructible and inescapable.
The lights blazing around Hua Yunfei’s body were all extinguished. Precious weapon after precious weapon flew out, each one reduced to powder.
The Supreme Emperor Sword was unrivaled in the world — called the greatest offensive immortal weapon of the Central Province. Nothing could be compared to it. Before it even touched Hua Yunfei’s body, it had nearly cleaved his shoulder clean off, opening a terrifying wound.
Ye Fan’s eyes blazed like two divine lamps, ablaze with light. He raised his cultivation and Dharmic power to their absolute limit, exhaled a breath of primordial primal chaos energy, and poured it into the dragon sword.
This was the ultimate strike!
Hua Yunfei resisted with everything he had — yet in the end could not hold it back. The Ten Thousand Transformations Sacred Art could dissolve all manner of wonders into ruin, but Ye Fan today was too overwhelmingly powerful. It could not dissolve fast enough.
“Spit!”
A terrifying wound appeared in an instant, extending from his left shoulder all the way down to his right abdomen. Blood gushed forth like a spring — gurgling and splashing — a horrifying sight.
Hua Yunfei’s upper body flew off, cleaved at the shoulder. His lower body convulsed and collapsed into the ancient temple, five-colored blood spilling across the ground in the dust.
Ye Fan moved to press his advantage, but a pitch-black treasure vase suddenly appeared, slamming into both his arms — then dark light burst in thousands of strands, exploding outward in an instant.
The Grand Dao Treasure Vase!
This was an assault of Dao cultivation — a cataclysmic explosion of Dharmic power — filled with utter destruction. The force of its impact was pressed to an extreme. Even a Dao-severing cultivator struck by it would struggle to survive.
“Crack!”
Ye Fan’s two arms were shattered, his sternum blown apart, golden blood scattering in drops and spatters all around him. A bowl-sized hole appeared through his chest — completely transparent from front to back — a terrifying injury.
Self-destructing the Grand Dao Treasure Vase — truly worthy of the Ruthless One’s inheritor. Not only ruthless toward enemies, but even more ruthless toward himself. This was the agony of severed flesh and splintered bone. Though he could regenerate, his primal vitality had suffered greatly.
In tacit understanding, neither launched another attack. Both quickly retreated — one activating the Phoenix Tribulation Rebirth Art, the other operating the incomplete “All” character secret — to restore their battered bodies.
In a brutal confrontation like this, without a corresponding sacred healing scripture to rapidly restore the body, collapse and defeat were inevitable — and with defeat came death.
One was reborn through fire — five-colored divine radiance flowing across him like a phoenix. The other was entwined by great Dao divine chains that wove themselves into strands of life’s radiance.
They opened their eyes at almost the same moment, and struck again — resolute and decisive, every move aimed to kill, not a single reserve held back.
The Ascending Immortal Art!
Hua Yunfei moved again. The same opening stance — but with a completely different energy. The secret art he now deployed was unfathomably terrifying. The Grand Dao Treasure Vase then dissolved into ten thousand strands of dark light that shot into his brow, and now a vase seal flickered at the center of his brow.
“Boom!”
Surging waves crashed forward. From within his brow erupted the Ascending Immortal Force, working in concert with his opening stance and continuously evolving. The immortal radiance shooting from his brow came rushing forth like a raging river in full flood.
Light stretched ten thousand feet — blasting Ye Fan back in an instant. This was the full sublimation of Hua Yunfei’s entire spirit, mind, and essence, erupting from his brow with unstoppable divine might.
Yet what shocked everyone most was what happened next: all that divine radiance rapidly converged together — forming into a new Hua Yunfei, blazing with endless rosy light, breathtakingly dazzling.
What was happening?
Even Ye Fan was stunned. He did not immediately understand — but did not linger on it, striking quickly.
Rising amid blazing clouds, the newly formed Hua Yunfei — made entirely of ten thousand feet of light — was surrounded by strands of clear radiance, immortal mist swirling around him. He seemed about to shed his mortal form and ascend as an immortal — untouched by even a single breath of worldly dust.
His beauty surpassed that of women, his bearing refined and noble, transcendent and extraordinary. His every movement seemed about to carry him away on the wind.
This was the true Ascending Immortal Art!
Hua Yunfei had deployed it by force. In the past he had never allowed it to evolve to its fullest — but now, in a life-and-death battle, it had at last reached ultimate sublimation, revealing the full glory this technique was meant to embody.
Rising amid blazing clouds — ascending to immortality!
Within the original body, a new self is shed — ascending as an immortal, manifesting as a divine embryo!
This divine embryo’s offensive power was unrivaled in the world. If a great Emperor deployed it, immortals could be slain and gods destroyed, every enemy shattered — and nothing across the nine heavens and ten earths could withstand it. This was the secret art created by the Ruthless One, dazzling for all eternity.
Ye Fan deployed the Holy Warrior Sacred Art in fierce resistance, golden blood flying incessantly. Both had fought to the point of frenzy — locking head-on in combat — deploying the Battle Scripture.
Since the Ruthless Emperor had created the Ascending Immortal Art to counter this very technique, he would use this technique to face it. Who was stronger and who was weaker would become clear in the end.
The great confrontation grew even more intense. The ancient temple hummed and reverberated without pause — no one could get close. The divine embryo that had shed from Hua Yunfei was even more terrifying than before, continuously exchanging blows with Ye Fan. The two became a ball of light, entangled together.
Ye Fan’s heart was violently shaken. This was a sublimation of a person’s spirit, mind, and life essence all together. He finally understood something of why the Ruthless One had created the Imperishable Celestial Art in her later years — it must have had some connection to this technique. To shed a divine embryo from an aging demonic body — truly defying heaven. It had all been destined from the moment she first created the Ascending Immortal Art!
Ye Fan’s left hand manifested the Void Mirror, shining it into the divine embryo Hua Yunfei’s eyes — which was potentially lethal, or at minimum would cause blindness. But Hua Yunfei shattered forth a burst of immortal radiance that left his eye sockets only briefly blurred.
“Hum!”
The Ascending Immortal Force, imperious and supreme across all ages, struck forward — transforming into a blinding shaft of light that slammed into the Void Emperor’s Ancient Mirror, producing a sharp crack and nearly shattering it.
Both bore terrible wounds all over their bodies from the accumulated injuries of their battle. The divine embryo formed from the Ascending Immortal Force battled Ye Fan from one hall to the next, driving back everyone in its path — none daring to interfere.
“Boom!”
Ye Fan surged back — his divine might irresistible — and the divine embryo of Hua Yunfei could not hold him off. He drove straight toward the original body, intending to destroy it.
The divine embryo had been formed from the immortal radiance within the treasure vase seal at Hua Yunfei’s brow. If Ye Fan could destroy the original body, everything else would become void. But at that moment, the divine embryo Hua Yunfei opened its mouth and inhaled — drawing the original body inside itself first.
Ye Fan exerted his power. His golden divine soul erupted — also transforming into himself — deploying the Ascending Immortal Art, the original body and divine soul together unleashing the Holy Warrior Sacred Art to battle Hua Yunfei.
“Spit!”
Hua Yunfei was put on the defensive. The divine embryo was nearly severed — and the original body fell out from within it. The two merged back together and retreated rapidly. Ye Fan gave chase from behind, unleashing one wondrous technique after another, and the two entered a new phase of battle.
“Ye Fan, what if you and I joined forces? We could seek out that hall together, jointly study the secret of crossing the stars, and then ascend the five-colored sacrificial altar for our final battle,” Hua Yunfei transmitted through spirit.
“Cooperating with you would be like negotiating with a tiger,” Ye Fan refused outright, pressing his attack even harder.
People had forgotten about the two shadow-spirits — everyone was charging through the ancient temples, fighting to seize precious treasures. Ye Fan and Hua Yunfei had already exchanged two thousand blows, blood spraying continually.
“Found it — kid, over here there’s something, not the scripture repository we imagined, but a star map.” The Great Black Dog transmitted the message from concealment, and opened its mouth to release a beam of light — a small killing formation flew out, dispatching its own opponent — before it stretched out its massive paws and began to pry at a door.
The black dog called out: “Get over here quickly — the central great hall seems to truly have a ruined cauldron and a transcendence immortal scripture. Take advantage of the fact that all the top experts are over there, and let’s study the mysteries here thoroughly.”
Pang Bo had also dispatched his opponent and came rushing over. Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue fought and advanced simultaneously. With a thunderous boom, the door was broken open, and star domain map after star domain map appeared within this hall — flowing clear radiance, like three-dimensional charts, incomparably deep and profound, every star flickering with light.
But Hua Yunfei blocked Ye Fan’s path, stretching out a curtain of light in the distance. This battle concerned his future — life or death, he would bar the way.
“Pop!”
Ye Fan wheeled with a sweeping strike — not truly leaving — and spun back to take the fight to him: “Before I depart, there must be a conclusion between us.”
“Boom!”
Suddenly, a trace of imperial might appeared and swept forward. World-shaking killing intent erupted — startling everyone near and far in this hall, sending chills through them all.
It was a thread of dark radiance, faintly shaped like a dragon — and it was about to engulf Ye Fan entirely. Such might would be enough to make even a Dao-severing king fall in despair! Yet Ye Fan showed not a trace of fear, as though he had anticipated all of this, his expression not revealing a flicker of alarm. From another direction, a second thread of dark radiance flashed — it was the aura of the Heaven-Devouring Demon Vessel, coming to shield him.
“Is this the hunter you spoke of?” Ye Fan’s face was cold.
“He has come — stepped onto the stage. My path… has reached its end…” Hua Yunfei murmured softly.