In the night sky, two silhouettes were locked in fierce combat — dark-gold spear against blood-colored war spear, their clashing ringing out with every collision, brilliant sparks erupting each time. They moved faster than lightning.

The two soared up into the vast canopy of heaven, flickering from one location to another in an instant, as though crossing through time and space itself. Their entire beings radiated treasure light, their powerful auras awe-inspiring.

Ye Fan fought the Half-Saint without the slightest disadvantage, transforming himself into a bolt of lightning and unleashing a world-shaking great duel — a collision of Dao cultivation accompanied by rolling thunder!

Blazing light shot from both their bodies, dimming even the stars and moon. Powerful fluctuations rose and fell like a vast ocean, boundless and immeasurable!

The crowd was shaken. Though the two combatants were tens of thousands of zhang above the ground, their divine energy was still perceptible, leaving many people unable to move, collapsed weakly to the ground.

Hum!

A blinding flash of light flew out as Ye Fan swept forward with his dark-gold spear, sending a wave of dark brilliance surging outward. Stars and moon alike seemed to tremble and sway, radiance flooding the sky in all directions.

Whoosh — Whoosh —

Beam after beam of light shot out, each one as thick as a mountain peak. The dark-gold spear erupted with a torrent of spear radiance that pierced the heavens with a thousand wounds!

The Half-Saint fought back with full force, genuinely shaken. This opponent’s combat power was a match for his own — every strike of that dark-gold spear tore through the vault of heaven with unmatched energy, so relentless that the Half-Saint could barely catch his breath.

Eight Forbidden Zones!

This was an absolute certainty. Only a path-severing cultivator of the Eight Forbidden Zones could possibly withstand a Half-Saint — any less, and death would be immediate upon contact!

The dark-gold spear erupted with cascading spear radiance, like the River of Stars descending — vast, boundless, without shore or end. The killing intent coiled through the nine heavens and ten earths, shaking all the world.

Clang!

The sound of metal striking metal was incessant. The shield in the Half-Saint’s left hand rang out with a sound that could pierce gold and crack stone, all manner of runes upon its surface flickering as it blocked spear radiance after spear radiance.

Ye Fan struck out nine hundred and thirty-seven consecutive times. The sharp tip of the dark-gold spear pulsed with keen brilliance — blazing and dazzling, encircled by a ring of ripples from the Great Dao. Though every strike had been blocked by that ancient shield, the Dao traces had successfully spread outward with each exchange.

The Half-Saint’s body shook violently. A bloody mark split open across the tiger’s mouth of his hand, fresh blood flowing freely and staining the hand that held the shield red, while the spreading Dao waves caused his entire frame to tremble.

An expression of disbelief crossed his face. This opponent was too powerful — nearly breaking through the Saintly Domain Barrier to strike into an entirely different realm. Even the Half-Saint felt a flicker of cold dread.

“Enough!”

The Half-Saint roared. Having weathered this relentless storm of attacks, both eyes blazed like divine lanterns — brilliant as twin torches — shooting beams of light that pierced through the void.

He was magnificent and formidable, a full head of hair flying wildly about him. His arm shook with the force of a hundred million jun. The blood-colored war spear in his right hand swallowed and exhaled crimson mists, as though forged from phoenix blood and red-gold, radiating a trembling wave that caused souls to shudder!

Clang!

The Half-Saint launched a fierce counterattack. The vivid red war spear in his hand seemed to flow with living blood — as though it had taken on a life of its own — its keen brilliance striking repeatedly toward Ye Fan’s vital points.

The entire night sky turned scarlet, wrapped in the Half-Saint’s blood aura. His ferocious attack was peerless in all the world — one thrust of the spear and all things would be destroyed, nothing able to withstand it.

Ye Fan’s eyes flickered with intense light as he strove to meet the attack, spear against spear, the two weapons clashing again and again, generating streak upon streak of blazing lightning that tore through the vault of heaven.

Whoosh!

A streak of blood-crimson divine light shot out — more dazzling than a comet blazing across the sky — and grazed past Ye Fan’s ear, the massive blast of energy striking a distant mountain and reducing entire ranges of soaring peaks to ash, leveling them into flat ground.

Hum!

The crimson war spear trembled lightly, and divine radiance after divine radiance erupted from the spear’s tip with a momentum that could swallow mountains and rivers, forcing Ye Fan to shift his expression and resist with full force.

Whoosh!

Another streak of blood-crimson spear radiance grazed Ye Fan’s body and shot into the distance, striking an ancient city at the edge of the earth. With a soft sound, a blaze of scorching light erupted — the Half-Saint’s spear light had reduced an entire city to smoldering ash. No one could know how many innocent lives had perished in an instant.

Every face in the crowd changed color. The Half-Saint’s attack was peerless and savage beyond measure. This was merely an overflow — a single thread of spear radiance that had spilled outward — and it had already destroyed an entire city. The number of innocent lives lost was unimaginable.

“You deserve to die!” Ye Fan’s eyes snapped upright, fury erupting from his lips as he roared. The enemy was completely reckless, not the least bit concerned about drenching the Southern Region in blood, feeling no pain no matter how many human lives were lost.

“A herd of ants — not worth grieving over.” The Half-Saint had only those words.

“For that alone, I will split you open with my spear!” Ye Fan roared, his body surging twenty thousand zhang into the sky to prevent the shockwaves from reaching the earth again. The light in his eyes was soul-stirring in its intensity.

The Half-Saint only sneered coldly. The black shield in his left hand merged with his palm and fingers as though alive. In his right hand, the blood-colored war spear merged with the night sky, devouring heaven and earth.

Rumble!

He brought an entire section of heaven pressing downward — the true saintly might had emerged. The so-called Half-Saint is one whose foot has stepped partway into the domain of Saints, able at times to manifest saintly power!

In this moment he brought that might to its most complete expression, unleashing it to the very fullest, using sheer force to overwhelm and crush — his intent to batter Ye Fan to death in the void through pure pressure alone.

Ye Fan’s powerful aura drew inward throughout his whole body, every pore absorbing the vital energy of the ten directions. The Eight Forbidden Zones pushed to the extreme limit, barely prying open the Saintly Domain Barrier. His body radiated no light, no blood aura — yet his power had reached an absolute apex.

The Half-Saint swung the entire war spear like a great club, bringing it crashing downward alongside an overwhelming tide of saintly might. Ye Fan’s eyes were filled with defiance and unyielding will as he raised his spear horizontally to meet the blow shaft to shaft.

Clang!

The sound of that collision was like the wailing of ghosts and gods. The resonance of metal shook the vault of heaven apart, then obliterated it. Even though both combatants had risen tens of thousands of zhang into the air, an entire range of mountains on the earth below was still caught in the shockwave — everything above the midpoint of each peak dissolved into dust amid the blinding radiance.

“Ah—”

Some of the powerful cultivators cried out in anguish. In their desire to clearly witness a Half-Saint level battle, they had ascended high into the sky. Though untouched by the divine energy itself, the metallic resonance of that collision had pierced through their eardrums — blood flowing freely from both ears.

Within Ye Fan’s body, blood and vital force surged like the terrifying waves of the Yangtze River, generating bursts of thunderous sound. Across his body’s surface and within every pore, blazing light was held in restraint, barely contained from breaking free.

“So this is saintly might?” His heart was shaken. Indeed, it transcended the scope of humanity — a Dao trace fluctuation so powerful that even his physique had nearly been shattered by it.

Yet he had endured it. He had successfully weathered that world-shaking blow.

“The legendary realm of Eight Forbidden Zones!” Feng Huang, Ji Biyue, Li Qingzhou, and the others were all stunned. This person was too powerful — he had truly withstood a Half-Saint!

Rumble!

In this instant, the corner of the Half-Saint’s mouth curled into a cold smile as he launched an even more terrifying assault brimming with limitless killing intent. The black shield that had served as defense now merged with heaven and earth — thousands upon thousands of Dao waves erupted from it, slashing down to cover the sky and blot out the earth.

The shield transformed into a black mountain ten thousand zhang high, threaded through with countless Order Divine Chains. The war spear bore down upon the dark-gold spear, and simultaneously this weapon was sacrificed once more — saintly might without equal.

Ye Fan’s eyes blazed with soul-shaking intensity. In this moment he swung his fist directly to meet the black shield-mountain bearing down with its tidal saintly might — light fully indrawn, invincible fist intent absolute and supreme throughout heaven and earth.

“Has he gone mad?!”

“To meet a Half-Saint’s weapon with bare fists — is he not courting death?!”

Everyone cried out, unable to comprehend. If those two forces actually collided, the fist would surely become a pulp of blood — how could bare flesh withstand a Half-Saint’s weapon?!

Many people could not bear to watch. This was a brilliant and remarkable figure — someone who could intercept and challenge a Half-Saint in the open sky, shaking the might of the Saintly Domain with their own power — to be ground to bone and gore in such a manner was too great a pity.

The cold cruel smile on the Half-Saint’s lips deepened. He could already envision the moment this unbelievable human powerhouse would bleed out. What good were eight Forbidden Zones? Death was still certain!

Thud!

Yet in a sound like the great drum of the Spiritual Court of Heaven resonating, Ye Fan’s fist did not become a pulp of blood — instead it sent that black shield-mountain flying backward through the air.

Crack!

Several fissures actually appeared on the surface of the shield-mountain. The left half of the Half-Saint’s body went numb from the impact, his face wearing an expression of total disbelief, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth as he was sent spinning through the air.

His flesh and blood body had prevailed in a direct collision against a Half-Saint’s weapon — the sheer dominance of this was so shocking it left everyone as though turned to stone, every one of them wide-eyed and dumbstruck.

“How is this possible? A body of flesh and blood can shake a Half-Saint’s weapon? This is as fantastical as a fairy tale!”

Yet the fact lay before their eyes, and the people had no choice but to believe it — this had truly happened.

“How did he withstand that just now? That shield-mountain was carrying overwhelming saintly might — what physique does this person have, that he dares meet it fist to weapon?”

“This… Could this be the second Human Sacred Physique in history?!”

The crowd spoke in shaken tones. This outcome was truly heaven-defying. Feng Huang’s brow furrowed slightly as she fixed her gaze on Ye Fan and studied him carefully. Ji Biyue’s heart was shaking violently as well, and she murmured to herself: “Could this be that person from back then, returned?”

Some cultivators had made this same association. Apart from the Human Sacred Physique — with a one-in-ten chance — whose physique could possibly be this terrifying?

“No — even the Human Sacred Physique cannot withstand saintly might.”

Many people were uncertain and doubting. There had been no sight of the overflowing golden blood aura, nor the familiar surging combat power of the Sacred Physique — it simply did not match.

The Half-Saint let out a clear cry. The sound waves boomed and thundered, collapsing the void, plunging Ye Fan into a region of dark voids. In a cold and chilling tone he declared: “Ignorant ant, unable to recognize death when it faces you — let everything end here!”

He fully unleashed the laws of the Saintly Domain, his entire body connecting with tens of thousands of Great Dao wave traces, as though carrying ten thousand great mountains with him — the pressure causing heaven and earth themselves to crumble.

“This is the opening technique of a Saint — the strongest attack a Half-Saint with one foot in this realm can manifest!”

The Laws of the Saintly Domain!

Rumble!

Blazing light interwove throughout heaven and earth, constructing a new order — a new world was being born in the act of creation itself, with infinite primordial chaos energy billowing outward!

At the very center, a Half-Saint stood as the sole supreme being, moving his legs and swinging his arms, all things crumbling in his wake. He was creating a small world, intending to reduce Ye Fan to smoldering ash within it.

Within this small world, he was the sole master of creation, like a deathless divine being, radiant treasure light flowing across his form as he suppressed Ye Fan.

A colossal axe cleaved downward; thirty-three layers of a holy tower pressed down to suppress; a great bell from the primordial opening of heaven and earth tolled with thunderous resonance…

Within this world, primordial chaos surged, and all manner of divine artifacts from the moment of creation’s beginning appeared — the crystallization of a Half-Saint’s lifetime of refinement. As he opened his small world, they merged with the Laws of the Saintly Domain and rained down to kill.

This was a terrifying spectacle!

“All beneath the Saintly Domain are ants. In my eyes you are nothing more than a lowly worm — I send you on your way!” the Half-Saint roared.

Rumble!

Heaven and earth thundered. The world-creating aura billowed and spread, ancient weapons crisscrossed and churned through the shattered heavens, and the Half-Saint’s Order Divine Chains pierced through every inch of space.

Everyone was stupefied. There was no possibility of withstanding this. The Saintly Domain separated Saint from Human — heaven and earth apart — an existence impossible to defeat. Ye Fan was certain to die.

“Roar—”

Ye Fan let out a long howl. Gripping the dark-gold spear, he struck upward through the primordial chaos toward the nine heavens and downward toward the nine depths, moving freely across the span of above and below — and actually split the primordial chaos open!

Every one of his pores swallowed and exhaled essence. In the starry heavens, all starlight cascaded downward, pouring into his body like a waterfall of the Silver River from the Nine Heavens.

In a trance-like moment, his flesh, his bones, his blood transformed into ancient stars — countless beyond counting, with a river of stars glittering brilliantly, great stars surging with magnificent force, becoming a wondrous spectacle!

Within his body, every drop of blood was an ancient star of life, with sun and moon in their cycles, with star domains vast beyond measure — corresponding to the endless stars of the heavens, radiating an ancient primordial aura of ten thousand ages.

Rumble!

With one thunderous sound, Ye Fan swung the dark-gold spear and shattered the Half-Saint’s small world — the black shaft bathed in starlight, piercing through every obstacle in its path.

His flesh and blood had become star constellations; his Dao bones had become a river of stars, manifesting the primordial aura of all creation’s beginning. His Dao was in motion — bearing heaven, carrying earth, encompassing all things, containing the essence of the universe.

Ye Fan swung the spear, and instantly rivers of stars rushed forward. His own being had cultivated a hundred meridians into a single furnace, containing ten thousand Daos within himself. In this moment, one thrust of his spear seemed as though it could pull down a star from the heavens!

Ye Fan struck out with his spear — and the Half-Saint went flying. The black shield and blood spear both shattered into pieces, blood spraying from his mouth as he could resist no further.

The Half-Saint was filled with uncontrollable terror. His small world was destroyed, and his very body had been pierced through — his life force withering. That a great Half-Saint should be defeated in such a manner was utterly beyond his acceptance.

Pft!

Within Ye Fan’s body, his Dao bones had transformed into a river of stars, brilliant light flowing from within, with glimpses of great stars of life rotating — and with a single thrust, he drove the spear into the center of the Half-Saint’s brows, nailing him to death in the void.

“And a Half-Saint amounts to no more than this!” Those cold words resonated through the open sky, leaving all the world beneath the stars in complete and utter silence.