Xuan Tuo’s sternum was shattered by Ye Fan’s golden fist — seven or eight ribs — and with it went several large chunks of flesh, sent flying in all directions. A rain of dark blue blood splattered across the heavens, cracking and resounding within the tribulation, emitting flashes of spectral light one after another.

“Ahhh…”

The pain had reached down to the very marrow of his bones. His chest had split open. Several ribs were missing. Blood poured in a steady stream. From head to toe he was covered in dark blue stains. Hair disheveled, he screamed at the top of his lungs — the agony was absolute.

He had only recently achieved sainthood, and had not yet had time to experience that sensation of looking down upon all living beings, of being utterly supreme unto himself. Today, a Severing Dao cultivator had shattered his sternum — this was a devastating blow, one nearly enough to shatter the indomitable will of cultivation.

“The Blood Moon Tribe has incurred the wrath of gods and men alike. You used the skulls of our human ancestors to fashion wine cups. This blood debt — today I begin to collect a little of the interest!”

Ye Fan stood within the heavenly punishment, ten thousand paths of tribulation light crossing in every direction, chaos lightning of every kind weaving all around him. He raised his fist and came charging in again.

It was still the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist, pressing forward without yield — wielding this fist intent, holding in his heart the unshakeable conviction of invincibility, the will to strike across the three thousand worlds and cut across the nine layers of heaven.

The golden fist swung. The power of the blow was vast and surging. Ye Fan moved like a streak of light, crossing from one end of the sky to the other, carrying ten thousand zhang of tribulation lightning, closing the distance in an instant. With a resounding boom he drove it downward.

Blood flew. Xuan Tuo screamed. This time both shoulders detonated together. Both arms became dozens of fragments of gleaming white bone. Flesh and blood scattered to all four directions. His entire body was drenched in dark blue.

An ocean of lightning descended. Every kind of tribulation light fell — from the Nine-Five Great Heavenly Tribulation to the Five-Element Lightning, down to the Primordial Chaos Thunder Sea — every variety present in full. Xuan Tuo’s condition grew more wretched still. Wisps of blue smoke rose from his body, bringing with them the smell of cooking flesh.

He had been a saint, transcendent above all mortal beings, looking down upon the dust of the world. When had anything so humiliating ever befallen him? Not a shred of saintly dignity remained.

The tribulation was immense, swallowing everything that happened within its light. Those outside could see none of the outcome.

“Human Race’s Sacred Body…” Xuan Tuo bellowed, his eyes filled with venomous hatred. His very first battle as a saint had gone this catastrophically — his fury was enough to make his liver feel as though it were on fire.

“You said that in the primordial era your tribe kept our human ancestors in captivity, used them as livestock, as blood food. Today I will beat you until you can’t even measure up to livestock!”

Ye Fan stood within the heavenly tribulation and shouted in thunderous fury. His hair flew in every direction, making him look like a demonic god.

He let the chaos light fall upon him and baptize his lean and powerful frame. His entire body radiated precious light. Though his skin would sometimes split and bleed, it was nothing serious — with the Word Technique of Zhe circulating, his injuries healed swiftly.

Over these many years, he had undergone tribulations so often that he was richly experienced. By now, tribulation punishment rarely managed to truly wound him.

“Ahhh…”

Xuan Tuo screamed. His fury consumed him. His grandfather had been killed. A Severing Dao cultivator was treating him this way. He came close to grinding his teeth to powder.

He knew that today’s odds were not in his favor. Setting aside that old saint who had blown his grandfather apart with a single fist, just the Kill-Saint alone was more than enough to leave him with no way out.

Since death was coming one way or another, he might as well fight with everything he had. If he could kill the Human Race’s Sacred Body in the process, at least he would take someone down with him. Though his primordial spirit was in agonizing pain, he was still straining to push his cultivation to its peak and attempting to restore his body.

RUMBLE!

Ye Fan came flying in. Before he even arrived, the tribulation descended first. The force of his blow was immense — struck by the fierce wind and the tribulation light together, Xuan Tuo could barely hold his footing and was nearly sent hurtling sideways.

“This is…” He went pale with shock. The influence of the Divine Transformation Blade was far more severe than he had imagined. Though the cut had landed on his waist, what it had injured was his primordial spirit. His brow was split open and bleeding black — at this moment, he could barely gather his strength, and came close to pitching forward and falling to the ground.

Pff!

Ye Fan’s fist came again, fast and fierce — every ounce of his sacred power concentrated into it, his life essence surging. It connected with Xuan Tuo’s jaw, sending teeth and dark blue blood flying more than a hundred zhang in all directions, struck clean through within the tribulation light.

Crack!

And in the next instant, the bones of Xuan Tuo’s jaw fractured and fell away, blood splashing in all directions — a sight too grim to look upon.

This battle had reached a point where there was no longer any suspense.

At this stage of the fight, no one came to intervene. Xuan Tuo was going to die. There were miracles in this world — yet the very reason they were called miracles meant that they were extraordinarily difficult to come by.

Pff!

Ye Fan’s fist detonated Xuan Tuo’s skull. White brain matter and blood splattered ten zhang into the air. Chaos tribulation lightning descended, incinerating his remains completely, leaving not even a fragment behind.

“Ahhh…”

Terror. Fury. Dread. Despair. Xuan Tuo’s primordial spirit flickered on the edge of extinction, every negative emotion erupting at once.

A flash of dark light — Kill-Saint Qi Luo struck. That jet-black sword swept through, paring away his primordial spirit and reducing it to dust.

The Divine Transformation Blade was a terrifying sacred artifact. The method of its consecration had been handed down through the ages, yet it was rare for anyone to successfully forge one. Qi Luo, as the Kill-Saint, combined with such a demonic sword, was a tiger with wings.

A shadow flickered — Qi Luo vanished, and like Wei Yi, the old saint, he sank into the void and struck no more. Both of them bore the Deception Formation markings carved from the ancient Dao-Comprehension Tea Tree wood, allowing them to come and go freely within the tribulation without being chased by the lightning.

“The Blood Moon King is dead as a clan leader. I’ll go take a walk inside and level this place to the ground while I’m at it.” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

From his brow, a golden little figure stepped forward and emerged. Opening its mouth, it let out a clear and piercing cry, then began to breathe in the tribulation lightning in vast quantities, drinking it like a whale. At the same time, the cauldron floated out as well, hovering above the head of the golden little figure. It appeared only an inch in size, yet how heavy it truly was defied easy description.

Because not long ago, in the Bronze Immortal Palace, he had swept away all of the vast ocean of mother qi and stored it within the cauldron — which had granted the cauldron a broader scope for advancement in grade and potential.

With so much mother qi inside, were it to be revealed, it would be enough to shake the entire ancient star. Were it to be used in forging, it would inevitably produce a supreme vessel!

To say nothing of anything else — its weight alone was enough to crush a Severing Dao cultivator to death on the spot. Had Ye Fan not long since fully refined it, even with his bloodline constitution, he would have struggled to lift it.

Now, what appeared to be an inch-tall small cauldron was in truth heavier than Mount Tai by countless magnitudes — a supreme “great vessel” of extraordinary rarity throughout all the ages!

“Is this what that ferocious person forged in preparation to shatter the extreme-path divine weapons?” Ye Fan murmured.

His physical body, the golden little figure, and the inch-tall cauldron — between the three, a mysterious connection had formed: harmonious and unified, as though heaven itself had made them one.

The physical body was crystalline and translucent. Every inch seemed forged from divine luminous glass, without a single impurity. Having been soaked in the most powerful bloodline evolution fluid, his flesh had grown even more formidable — sufficient now to stand shoulder to shoulder with ancient saints.

The golden little figure had also grown considerably stronger. The mysterious ores had promoted its growth as well. Dimly, golden light radiated in ten thousand streams from it — as though an immortal king were seated in meditation, awe-inspiring in its dignity.

The cauldron exhaled and inhaled divine radiance, frantically devouring every trace of chaos light within the tribulation and drawing it within, branding it upon the cauldron walls — rendering it ever more wondrous.

The tribulation was fearsome — but to Ye Fan, as long as it did not manifest the extreme scenario of ancient great emperors all appearing together to strike him down, he could manage. He used it to temper the Golden Body, and to deepen his comprehension of his own Dao.

Gold light sparkled across him. Even Ye Fan’s hair had become crystalline. When his eyes opened and closed, ten thousand rays of divine radiance shot from them. His entire being blazed with brilliance, surpassing even the Buddhist diamond indestructible body.

Just as that pair of siblings from the Eternal Kingdom had said — he might well be one of the universe’s strongest constitutions. Were he to always have evolution fluid to temper his golden body, all of his latent potential would certainly be unlocked.

“Indestructible Golden Body — hammered through a thousand trials, a hundred refinements. Divine nature undying. Forge my Great Dao!” In Ye Fan’s heart, clarity reigned, without self, without object. Every tribulation was a rare baptism — a transcendence of both body and divine consciousness alike.

Ye Fan’s physical body, the golden little figure, and the inch-tall small cauldron together rose into the sky above the Blood Moon Ridge. Tribulation light of every kind poured down in an all-encompassing deluge, burying everything below.

This was one of the most notoriously fearsome royal tribes among the ancient clans — their collective strength was extraordinary. Even with the Blood Moon King dead, another ancestral king would rise to take his place. Though no ancient saint now presided over them, even their retreat was carried out in orderly fashion.

Without the Blood Moon King returning from within the tribulation, they knew something had gone terribly wrong.

“Blood Moon Tribe — you who enslaved the human ancestors of an age gone by — let your ancestral land collapse and crumble entirely!” Ye Fan stood within the tribulation light and bellowed.

On this day, the Northern Domain was shaken to its core. The Human Race’s Sacred Body appeared without warning, invaded the Blood Moon Ridge, and underwent his tribulation there — a display of arrogance carried to its absolute extreme.

Even more shocking was the outcome. The Blood Moon King was dead. Xuan Tuo had been destroyed. The ancestral land of the Blood Moon Tribe had been struck to scorched earth — every area not protected by a Great Saint’s ancient formation was all but completely obliterated.

“That was a notoriously powerful saintly king. How could he have fallen just like that? Even if the Human Race’s Sacred Body’s tribulation is terrifying, it couldn’t have done this to him!”

The entire Northern Domain erupted in chaos. The ancient clans were in an uproar. The Blood Moon King’s death was murky and unexplained — no one believed he had simply been struck down by tribulation lightning.

A human ancient saint had intervened — and one far more powerful than the Blood Moon King at that!

This was the consensus a great many people reached. Otherwise, how could something like this have happened? Undercurrents surged. This could evolve into a great upheaval, and there was every likelihood that a war between ancient saints would break out!

This was a seismic event!

These past days, the ten great royal tribes had united in secret, sending out bounty orders to have the Human Race’s Sacred Body killed. Anyone who heard of it changed color. The entire world had been watching, most believing he had no path to survival.

Yet Ye Fan’s actions defied all expectation. Rather than fearing and retreating, he invaded the Blood Moon Ridge, unleashed a massacre, and destroyed the Blood Moon King.

This was a resounding slap across the face!

The ancient clans had broken the rules, acting in secret. Ye Fan refused to follow convention either — he had stirred up this great calamity and dealt one of the great royal tribes a devastating loss.

“The Human Race’s Sacred Body is this brazen — courage and boldness beyond all others! He has wiped out the Blood Moon King. What is there he would not dare to do?”

“That slap landed clean and true. What face do the aggressive factions within the ancient clans have left? How can they live this down? A single Sacred Body daring to stand against ten great royal tribes alone!”

The whole world was somewhat dazed — the outcome left everyone in absolute astonishment.

And the most aggressive of the ten great royal tribes — many of them were in a daze as well, having never anticipated that Ye Fan would be so “hot-tempered,” even more reckless and arrogant than they were.

“Human Race’s ancient saints — you have declared war. You have secretly slaughtered the lord of a great royal tribe. Do you want the entire Eastern Desolation to be strewn with corpses and rivers of blood?”

From within the ancient clans, a saintly king burst forth, roaring in a voice that carried across mountain ranges and rivers throughout the Northern Domain, his sacred might surging.

“Blood Moon Tribe, Pale Wraith Tribe, Purple Lightning Tribe… you shameless lot who have no regard for the rules, and you have the nerve to leap out snarling like cats whose tails have been stepped on? Come and try to kill me again if you dare — I’ll wipe out a few more of your clan leaders!”

Ye Fan answered back. One could say his arrogance had reached its absolute limit. He named the most aggressive of the ten great royal tribes outright, rebuked them loudly, and challenged them head-on without a trace of fear.

On this day, Gai Jiuyou appeared in the divine city of the Northern Domain. He said only a few words, his voice faint with illness, then withdrew.

“The Blood Moon Tribe brought it entirely upon themselves. This old one’s lifespan is nearly spent — yet if a great clan is truly set on humiliating the human race, I can still spend my remaining life force to destroy one great imperial clan, or slaughter a few dozen royal tribes.”

Even so — just these few words, nothing more — their power was immense. The ancient clans were shaken to their foundations. Many great tribes were gripped by alarm. Some clan leaders were left in a state of extreme anxiety!