The heavenly tribulation had at last come to a stop — yet sheets of flickering lightning had not yet fully dissipated, scattering as aftershocks. If not for the ancient Heaven-Defying Array that Ye Fan had laid down, these mountains and rivers would certainly have been destroyed.

Finally, the last wisp of lightning faded. Heaven and earth returned to stillness. On the ground lay a stretch of ash, with a small charred piece resting there.

“Xiao Song!”

Youwei Yu and the others could not bear to look. It was too cruel a sight. The little purple creature had been struck into the ground, reduced to ash.

They felt Ye Fan had been somewhat heartless — how could he disregard even his disciple’s life? Had the little purple creature truly died like this?

There was no sign of life. No flesh or blood. Only a pile of ash and a charred stub — its scorched body, devoid of any vitality. The scene was far too harrowing.

When the others thought of the little creature’s endearing appearance and then looked upon this scene, the feeling of grief welled up in their eyes. Their hearts felt blocked. Why had it come to this?

“It’s all right — it did not die.” Ye Fan spoke.

It was not that he was heartless. Had he intervened to protect the small creature, then its tribulation this time would have been considered a failure — and the consequences would be incalculable. The path of cultivation ahead would have been incomparably arduous and full of hardship.

Its very Dao foundation would have been destroyed — and any talk of a supreme Dao attainment, of a peerless Demon Emperor, of disdaining all under heaven — all of it would have been moot.

The small creature stirred faintly, struggling within the ash. Gradually, signs of life returned, perceptible to those around it. It was alive.

Yan Xiaoyu and the others rushed over, looking on with tense concern — yet not daring to touch it, for fear of worsening its injuries.

The small creature had nearly lost all resemblance to itself, barely alive, and pitiably opened its eyes. Its body had nearly become charcoal.

It kept murmuring, crying out again and again that it hurt. Ye Fan immediately acted, summoning golden blood from his own body to bathe and cleanse its viscera and bones, treating its injuries.

The blood of a sacred human constitution, once it had reached maturity, could be considered a precious spiritual medicine — naturally possessing extraordinary efficacy, strengthening sinews and bone, cleansing the marrow and transforming the body, with a particularly distinctive fragrance.

“Every cultivator looks like this after their first tribulation. Your master was even worse off than you back then — rejected by the Great Dao, facing nine deaths and one survival. I had to enter a forbidden ancient land to seize back my life.”

After a while, Xiao Song’s scattered gaze finally slowly gathered its focus. It whimpered a few times, looking at Ye Fan with a pitiable expression, its whole body in tremendous pain.

“Right now is the time to consolidate your Dao attainment. You must summon your spirit — having undergone the baptism of tribulation lightning, you must shed what you were and forge a stronger physical body.” Ye Fan sternly urged it.

In ordinary times he could be indulgent — but once cultivation was involved, he would not coddle. He issued a strict order for it to quickly pull itself together and temper the physical body vessel.

Xiao Song was simple in nature, but it also knew that Ye Fan was doing this for its benefit. Hearing his words, it steeled itself, began repairing its injured body, undertaking the exchange of blood, and set about forging its nearly destroyed frame.

Crackle and pop…

Remnants of the tribulation’s essence still lingered within its body, ringing out as the blood circulated, hammering its fractured bones, tempering its organs, purifying its flesh and blood.

After a full several hours, Xiao Song was reborn — a shed of scorched black skin and bone lay on the ground below, its body having undergone a profound change. Its fur was smoother, flashing with purple light.

At this point, its body had condensed to the size of a palm, and with its tail it was barely a foot long. Its great eyes were like two black gemstones set in purple crystal.

The other disciples sighed. In an era such as this, genuine heavenly tribulation was almost unheard of. Only certain ancient sects had secret methods to call down a little lightning during a thunderstorm to temper the physical body. Something like what Xiao Song had undergone — absolutely without precedent.

“Xiao Song, how many years have you actually been cultivating?” Zhan Yifan asked.

The others were curious as well, grinning and teasing it, asking just how old it was to have already accumulated this level of cultivation.

It began counting earnestly on its fingers, looking completely confused, even enlisting its toes in the count — its dazed and bewildered expression immediately set the whole group laughing.

Ye Fan laughed as well. “It is an anomaly — it has not actually been cultivating for many years. Otherwise, how would its temperament be the way it is?”

Xiao Song had just counted to five on its toes when it heard this and was immediately mortified — but very quickly it started laughing along in carefree, goofy fashion, completely endearing.

Kunlun — stretching westward from the Pamir Plateau, spanning across the lands between Xinjiang and Tibet, extending into the territory of Qinghai — was, in the ancient myths and legends of China, the most important ancestral mountain.

According to some ancient texts, the earliest ancestors of the Central Land may have originated in Kunlun, spreading eastward over time. This view had gained support from linguistics, mythology, and modern genetic analysis, and was acknowledged by a portion of scholars.

People believed it was for this reason that the ancient ancestors left behind so many legends, and why Kunlun held such paramount significance in Chinese mythology.

Looking out upon Kunlun from afar — towering, majestic, awe-inspiring in every aspect — it was like a profound and weighty history, like a primordial source of life, bearing too much upon its shoulders.

Afterward, they entered the Kunlun mountain range, calling upon the sect leader of Xuchen, and received a grand welcome. The things Ye Fan had done of late had truly been far too astonishing.

Kunlun’s magnificent scenery was beyond counting — it had been called an immortal mountain since ancient times, a place from which one might ascend to immortality. A pity that the main body lay within an ancient array, invisible to ordinary people.

“Within the mountain range lies the hope of ascending to immortality, and rare undying divine medicines grow there — and the older brother of the fierce one may have fallen here as well.” Ye Fan murmured quietly.

If they pressed westward, they would soon cross the national border and formally launch the western campaign. Ye Fan did not set off immediately. He brought his several disciples to Kunlun to search and explore.

Many legends were tied to this place, and they all hoped to encounter some opportunity of fate. Unfortunately, after lingering for several days, they found nothing. Ye Fan estimated the location of the hidden immortal ground — rich with the chance of ascending to immortality — but without the complete map in hand, he dared not venture inside.

At night, deep within the Kunlun mountain range, a bonfire crackled and danced. Zhang Qingyang had hunted a unicorn, and the group skinned it, cleaned it, and set it to roast over the fire.

“You are demons — waaaaah…”

From not far away, a golden-haired young girl was crying in anger. She had come to the Central Land to slay demons — only after tracking them down to find her beloved mount had been taken.

Right before her eyes, those people ahead had skinned the unicorn. The roasting fragrance was golden and fragrant in the night air, tantalizing to the nose.

“Waaaaah, my sister will not let you get away with this! You demons — you ate my unicorn…” She wept, but could change nothing.

“Little girl, have you read too many stories of heroes slaying dragons? Someone as naive as you, and you came all the way to the Central Land to slay demons — a child who doesn’t know the true state of things.” Zhan Yifan shook his head, laughing as he deflated her.

“Hey, I must say — the flesh of this unicorn is genuinely tender and delicious. Quite the delicacy. Pity it’s not of a pure strain — otherwise, it would surely be enormously fortifying medicine.” Zhang Qingyang remarked.

In the Kunlun mountain range, the night mist ran deep. The group sat before the bonfire roasting the unicorn meat, finding it a peculiarly satisfying experience. Youwei Yu was particularly inventive — he had gone all the way to get seasonings from the Xinjiang people, and began roasting meat skewers, giving everyone a most enjoyable feast.

“Aaaah — I’ll fight you to the death!” The golden-haired girl, no older than fourteen or fifteen, lunged at them. She clawed and flailed — only for Zhan Yifan to pluck up a piece of fragrant meat and stuff it into her mouth. “Little girl, don’t be so fierce. Try some for yourself — that unicorn was raised quite well. The meat is really quite excellent.”

Ye Fan didn’t even need to think about it — the Vatican had certainly been mobilizing every force at its disposal. Otherwise, why would such a young girl come east?

Clearly, young heirs of certain ancient families had been worked up into a frenzy, all wanting to become the epic heroes who slew the demon. Many of them had probably slipped away from their families without permission and made their way east.

Sure enough, over the following several days, more than ten similar incidents occurred. Young people dreaming of becoming dragon-slayers and demon-killers came one after another — some of them still children, ignorant of the world.

Zhan Yifan and Zhang Qingyang — as long as they caught one of these naive “heroes” or “beauties” — stripped them of everything they had, gave them a good spanking, and sent them on their way.

“Go back and tell your elders: I will remain in Kunlun for three more days. If you want to come, come quickly. Otherwise, I will travel west in person to visit the Pope — invite myself over for afternoon tea.”

When a crowd of young people who had set out with grand dreams returned home battered and humiliated and recounted their experiences, the reverberations through the Western cultivation world were enormous.

“This is outrageous — the Mohan Family’s unicorn was eaten, the Haigu Family’s sub-dragon was roasted, and the Qiuen Family’s fire phoenix as well… these people are truly demons — evil to the very extreme. They must face the fire of judgment!”

Ye Fan and his group had not yet entered the West — yet already their infamy preceded them. Even the six disciples had been painted as devils sprouting horns. To say nothing of Ye Fan himself.

The Kunlun mountains’ peace was shattered. Once the news circulated, it was unknown how many Western cultivators descended upon them within those three days — all wandering cultivators who had come upon hearing the commotion, wishing to vent their anger.

Yet the results were cruel. With a single sword, Ye Fan swept through thousands, and rivers of blood flowed. Not one person was his match.

Not a single person escaped. Fresh blood dyed the rocks of Kunlun red. In the end, Ye Fan informed the Daoist sects to relay the message to the Pope — only then did the West learn that a group of wandering cultivators who had crossed eastward to slay the demon had perished.

The great figures of the Vatican smashed their tall goblets of red wine. Their fury raged. Holy light surged from their entire bodies up into the heavens.

“Chalander — you are one of the most powerful holy knights to have survived since the Dark Ages. Our merciful Lord has bathed you in divine light, bestowing upon you incomparable glory. Can you still find a few others who have also survived from that ancient era?”

“Am I not capable of killing him alone?”

“Your valor is known to all under heaven. The holy knights who have survived from the Dark Ages to the present are all the Lord’s favored. I merely fear you might be wounded. Go seek out a few companions — go together to the East and slay that demon.”

“Very well. Perhaps I can find several other holy knights from the ancient era. We will go and kill him.”

After the West’s cultivation lineage was shaken to its core, they naturally began formulating countermeasures in earnest. The complete annihilation of the Eastern Crusade in the Central Land was an enormously negative event — and then more people had died afterward. It had to be resolved quickly.

Over those several days, even ordinary mortals heard the hymns of angels and would occasionally witness extraordinary visions. One could well imagine the scale of their activity.

Many ancient families had been sought out. Protected by ancient arrays, isolated from the world, they had lived for long years in medieval castles — and now they were called out.

The Central Land has birthed a demon!

These four words had within days become the defining phrase of the conversation, spreading through the entire Western cultivation world — filling some with a sense of pressure, while others believed the Daoist sects of the Central Land were declaring war.

“The will of our Lord descends upon the world of men — to cleanse all worldly impurities with sacred fire…”

On this day, a sacred angel descended, appearing within a magnificent great cathedral. She bore a woman’s face — of absolutely incomparable beauty. Her golden hair flowed like a blazing sun. Her figure was slender, clad in light gauze, radiating holy light.

And on this same day, the Vatican’s Pope officially issued the summons — calling in lineages from every corner, assembling the true Crusade army for the Eastern Campaign.

The Pope’s influence was immense. Every true historical Crusade had been launched by the Pope, and so this summons — once issued — caused the Western cultivation world to erupt in absolute uproar.

From every castle sealed off from the mortal world, extraordinarily gifted and powerful young figures stirred to life. Elders whose bodies were already half-buried in the earth roused themselves upon hearing the news.

“Let’s go — three days have passed. It is time to be on the road again…” Ye Fan and his group departed far from the Kunlun mountain range and had already formally crossed the national border, beginning their advance toward the West.