Ye Fan struck his palm down and shattered the golden battle ship, causing every Golden Crow powerhouse aboard to have their bodies explode into blood mist — every single one of them wiped out.

This outcome was nothing short of staggering.

Golden Crow blood was raining down. The primordial spirit of the elder Golden Crow Saint-King was screaming in terror. Who could withstand such power? Even escape had been impossible — with the exception of the elder Golden Crow King, every person on the ship had been obliterated, body and spirit alike.

Pfft!

Ye Fan clenched his fist. The Saint-level Golden Crow he had caught earlier had its bones crushed completely. Golden feathers drifted through the outer void, soaked in blood. It, too, was ground to dust and perished.

This iron-blooded method sent genuine horror through the onlookers. Ye Fan was dispassionate and merciless, as though he had just crushed a cluster of ants — not the slightest ripple of emotion passing through him.

The area fell utterly silent. Every powerful figure closed their mouths. No one dared so much as breathe, the quiet drawn tight as a wire.

This ruthless display had shaken them all to the core. That had been an entire shipload of powerhouses led by a Saint-King — yet Ye Fan had destroyed them all with a single flip of his hand, effortlessly as dealing with vermin.

Everyone knew the reason. Ye Fan was seeking justice for his disciple, and the anger inside him must have been burning at its peak. His eldest disciple’s life was unknown, which had driven him to this drastic action — to cleanse the Golden Crow Clan in blood.

No one in the area dared to make a move. Every eye was locked on the scene in tense wariness, terrified of being caught in the disaster without cause. Ye Fan was nothing like the man who had left — he was now like an immovable mountain crushing down upon everyone, so heavy they could not draw breath.

At the head of Long Ma and the Ancient Golden Peng stood eleven Saint-level figures, scattered in every direction among the crowd, scanning the outer region with watchful eyes, overseeing the battlefield in readiness for any shift.

Ye Fan searched the elder Golden Crow’s primordial spirit and uncovered the location of the Golden Crow Clan’s stronghold in the Northern Dipper, and he saw many things from the past as well. What he could not endure — what pushed him beyond the limit of tolerance — was the discovery that the Golden Crow Clan had severed one of Ye Tong’s arms and half of one of his legs, and these grisly remnants were still kept within the clan, dripping with blood, cruel and savage.

His fury erupted. This was his eldest disciple. If Ye Tong had been defeated by an equal opponent, he would have nothing to say. But a pack of elder Golden Crows had joined forces to surround and slaughter him — hacking off his arm and his leg, blood splattering across the heavens. The image of it made his eyes split with rage.

“Golden Crow Clan — every last one of you is tired of living!” Ye Fan let out a furious roar, and his palm came crashing down. In an instant, it slammed onto this final primordial spirit.

The elder Golden Crow King screamed in terror. No living thing is without the desire to survive — yet nothing could change what was coming. He shattered piece by piece, crumbling apart in absolute despair and dread, dissolving into dust.

No one dared breathe. This was excessive beyond all measure — a Saint-King, gone just like that, snuffed out with a raise of the hand, reduced to ash and smoke in an instant.

Ye Fan turned and left. Step by step he walked toward the distance. He was going to the Golden Crow Clan’s stronghold in the Northern Dipper to demand an accounting and exact justice.

The Lightning Phoenix remained behind at the Ji Family. The other eleven Saints followed behind him, transforming into a stream of flowing light. Together with Ye Fan, they plunged toward the great earth below — and a bloody slaughter was about to begin.

Only after Ye Fan had gone did everyone finally let out a long breath. The pressure had been overwhelming. When the Holy Body’s golden blood boiled, it was like the rumble of primal thunder tearing through the chaos — shaking everyone’s hearts, more terrifying even than facing a true Great Sage.

This was the fearsome power of the Holy Body’s physical form. The higher the realm, the more awe-inspiring the strength it displayed.

“It’s really him — the human race’s Holy Body has come back.”

“He’s been gone for over a hundred years, and yet he returned alive from the ancient road. How extraordinarily powerful he has become — the sight of him shakes the soul.”

Until Ye Fan’s figure faded from sight did people finally relax, breaking into exclamations and debate. This was absolutely a monumental event — a bolt from the blue, shattering the sky.

To set foot upon that road and come back was rare beyond rare. Now a Holy Body — one said to carry one of the most powerful bloodlines in the cosmos — had come fighting back. No matter where in the world, this would set off an enormous wave.

“Is he invincible now? He has not yet become a Great Sage, it seems — and yet he already carries the bearing of one who stands supreme and alone. Who can stand against him?”

People believed that unless a Great Sage emerged, unless an Emperor’s son or daughter took the field, unless a Chaos Body came forth to challenge him — in this present world, Ye Fan was destined to sweep across all six directions and all eight wildernesses, without rival in heaven or earth.

“He carries the green copper cauldron — he revealed it back in his day. Has he returned with it still on him?”

“You still have your eye on the immortal cauldron? Who would dare to take it — are you not afraid he would grind every last one of them to powder?”

“I believe the Great Sages and ancient emperors’ children are done hiding. They will emerge — only they can stand against the human race’s most supremely powerful Holy Body.”

Out on the outer battlefield, people were shaken, voices rising and mingling in a great clamor.

Many of them rushed toward the earth below, abandoning their battles here. At this moment, nothing was more staggering than the news that the human race’s Holy Body had returned alive. They needed to report this.

Word would spread — and when it did, the entire world would shudder. This was an enormously terrifying event: it marked the rise of one of the most powerful bloodlines of the human race. Without the relevant figures stepping forth, he would be without equal.

As for Ye Fan himself — he was without fear. He had returned, and he had come to seek justice for his disciples. He feared no one.

At the same time, this show of force could deter those who might otherwise move against his disciples, causing all the killing intent and hostility to concentrate upon him instead — relieving the pressure on Ye Tong, who was in flight, and on Xiao Que’er and the others, giving them the chance to survive until Ye Fan could find and rescue them.

In simple terms: he was standing up for his disciples, shielding them from every hostile force and killing threat, bearing it all upon himself in their stead.

Of course, Ye Fan was not walking into his own death, nor had he become so arrogant as to lose his senses. With his disciples’ crisis as the immediate priority, this was the only course of action. If true calamity came, he had already made his worst-case preparations. If he truly wanted to leave, no one could stop him.

“Is there any news of Ye Tong?” Long Ma asked.

Ye Fan shook his head. The shipload of Golden Crows had only been acting on an uncertain tip — word had come suggesting Ye Tong might have appeared in the outer domain. They had come to sweep the area on patrol. Nothing had been confirmed.

The group descended upon the Northern Domain. Their arrival instantly drew powerful divine senses probing toward them. Upon sensing that Long Ma, the Ancient Golden Peng, and the others were all Saint-Kings, those presences hastily withdrew, unwilling to court trouble.

Great Sages were certainly present — but they would not make a move lightly. The level of conflict had not yet reached a point where existences of that magnitude would fight to the death.

A magnificent great city rose from the earth — the Sacred City of the Northern Domain. Passing through it, Ye Fan was awash in memories. The great stone-gambling battle of the past, the charge through the Four Extremes, the gaze of ten thousand watching eyes, the White-Robed Divine King washing the Heavenly Painting with his own blood to dispel the curse on his behalf — so much had happened here, so much that was impossible to forget.

Ye Fan stood for a moment, lost in thought.

The Golden Crow Clan had chosen to nest in the Northern Domain, a land of endless red earth — stretch upon stretch of bare crimson ground, tens to hundreds of li across, without a blade of grass or a trace of life. It suited their habitation and their concealment perfectly. Most importantly, they had located a fire-attribute divine meridian of the Five Elements underground — a peculiar flame well-suited to their cultivation.

In truth, they had once considered the “Fire Domain” in the Southern Domain, but once a small flame tree fashioned of mysterious inscriptions appeared, their nightmare began. They suffered heavy casualties and fled in disarray.

Now, passing through the Northern Domain’s Sacred City, Ye Fan traveled on foot, threading through the city’s streets, wishing to look more closely at this ancient city — a place where he had shed both blood and tears, and where great battles had been fought.

“Wait — who was that just now?”

“Am I seeing things? That looked like the portrait hanging in the stone-gambling hall — could that be the sixth-generation patriarch of the Yuantian lineage, Ye Fan?”

“That’s right, very much like him. Has he come back from beyond the domain? Heaven — is this really happening?”

Many cried out in surprise — but Ye Fan’s speed was too great. In a blink, he and the eleven Saints had already cleared the city and were gone.

That did not mean no one had gotten a clear look. Among those present, there were ancient race powerhouses. They wore expressions as if they had seen a ghost, trembling with trepidation, rushing immediately to report the news.

The Northern Domain was the ancient races’ stronghold. Within its countless mountains and great vein networks were concealed vast and powerful royal clans — terrifying beyond measure, places the world dared not approach.

“Hmm… there’s still one stone in the Sacred City that was never processed. I wonder if the Stone King from those days is still there — I should find time to have a look.” Ye Fan muttered to himself.

In the stone-gambling battle of the past, that Stone King had been far too mysterious — it had eluded both his eyes and his source arts. It possessed life and will, and from start to finish he had never once laid eyes on it.

“Ye Fan has returned!”

“What — the human race’s Holy Body has appeared again? Come back from the ancient road fighting his way through?!”

This news spread like a hurricane, sweeping through every ancient clan at lightning speed, leaving mouths hanging open in stunned disbelief. In his day, Ye Fan had been a great slaughterer — the ancient clans both feared and hated him with seething intensity.

In particular, those among his contemporaries still carried something close to a shadow cast over their hearts by him. Even now, the best among them had attained Sainthood — yet the mere mention of Ye Fan’s name was enough to make their expressions change.

In truth, when Ye Fan began heading toward the Northern Domain, many Saints from beyond the domain who had been watching had already followed from a distance, sending word ahead to their clans about everything unfolding.

And so his every action, his every move, remained under the watchful eyes of many — though none dared obstruct him, none dared draw close. They could only observe from afar.

“Over a hundred years have passed. I never imagined he could grow this powerful — Saints retreating before him, not one daring to contend with him. He already carries the bearing of an unrivaled supreme.” An ancient race powerhouse sighed.

Ye Fan came — like a storm sweeping across the Northern Domain. He paid none of it any mind. His course was set, his target fixed. He went straight to a range of flame mountains.

Five Elements fire essence lay beneath the earth. The Golden Crow Clan’s nest was built right here.

Boom!

No one had expected this. Ye Fan stood in midair like a heavenly deity and brought his foot stamping down, directly upon the mountains.

This was naturally a manifestation of the Heaven and Earth Dharma Form — he towered above ten thousand zhang, his body level with the sky, soaring into the clouds. An enormous sole, like a small mountain unto itself, descended from above. Heaven shook. The earth trembled.

The mountain range instantly collapsed. The ground cracked. The peaks all toppled, rocks shooting through the clouds, everything thrown into utter devastation and chaos.

“Who dares to invade our Golden Crow Clan’s sacred ground?!”

Several sharp cries rang out. Bolt after bolt of golden light surged upward — like golden bolts of lightning splitting the void, blazing and brilliant.

These were powerful Golden Crows, elder Saint-Kings among them, the rest every bit as fearsome — holy energy swirling in all directions, their momentum earth-shaking and thunderous.

Bang!

Ye Fan uttered not a single word. He simply brought his foot down again — hard. This stomp was suffused with his laws and Dao arts, the massive foot blotting out the sun and the sky.

“No—!”

The Golden Crows screamed. They had never encountered such a terrifying enemy — like a supreme heavenly deity, one foot blotting out heaven itself, crushing so many powerhouses beneath it, with no room to dodge or escape.

This was sovereign might of the highest order — a single foot crushing an elder Saint-King along with the assembled heroes to a paste of blood and mud, not a single one able to evade it, every last one driven beneath that stamp.

The scene sent shockwaves through all who witnessed it. Those following from afar — ancient race powerhouses and Saints from beyond the domain alike — felt ice running through every inch of their bodies, every hair raised in dread. This was something beyond terrifying.

Ye Fan had spoken not a single word. The moment he arrived, he brought a great killing down upon them — blood soaking the earth, a great swath of the Golden Crow Clan dead in an instant.

“Who are you?!”

Most of the Golden Crows had never seen Ye Fan before. They roared their challenge now, surging up from the Five Elements fire essence below, staring at him with furious eyes.

“You killed my disciple — severed his arm, cut down his leg, dripping with blood. Did you not know who his master was? Ye Fan has returned!” Ye Fan bellowed, and brought his foot crashing down once more. Mountains trembled, the earth shook. He looked down at the assembled Golden Crows and declared: “You dared to torment my disciple — today, I am here to demand an accounting!”