Outside Tai Xuan, the Water Cloud Lake had become a place where the winds of fate converged — drawing out even existences like Nangong Zheng and the Peacock King.
Beneath the Water Cloud Lake, the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace had revealed itself. Countless cultivators rushed toward it, as moths to a divine flame in the darkness — drawn by a power of unparalleled, irresistible magnetism.
Great figures sought a glimpse of the opportunity for immortality. Common cultivators yearned to behold the true form of the immortal palace. The Wei Kingdom was swept up in surging winds and rolling clouds.
After departing, Ye Fan had no intention of going back. To make his escape, he had unleashed the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace and stirred a storm of colossal proportions.
Now, he found himself at an impasse. He wished to traverse the void, yet he had absolutely no means to do so — not even the faintest idea of how.
“Difficult, difficult, difficult — is there truly no way?” He furrowed his brow, feeling utterly without recourse.
The emergence of the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace had not only rippled through the Southern Region — even the most distant Northern Region had seen great figures arrive. The scale of its impact was beyond imagination.
In the Eastern Desolation’s Northern Region, the Jiang Family and several other Sacred Grounds and ancient clans had each sent representatives.
“Once this matter is concluded, the people from the Northern Region will certainly return. Could I make use of their power?” Ye Fan began moving through this area, asking questions on all sides, trying to find out which Northern Region powers had close ties with the local sects here.
At this time, Ye Fan was over thirty thousand li from Tai Xuan — far enough by any measure. He harbored no worries and did not continue his flight. From conversations with various cultivators, he gathered some useful information.
The Northern Region’s Sacred Grounds did indeed maintain some smaller powers under their control in the Southern Region, to be used as pieces on the board — ensuring their disciples had convenient resources when traveling.
Just as Ye Fan was actively making preparations, a piece of news that shook the entire Southern Region suddenly surfaced.
After the demon clan’s great figure — the Peacock King — emerged, he did not first go to the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace. Instead, he went directly to the Ji Family, slapped the name plaque above their gates to splinters, and sent the great doors flying.
This was nothing short of a momentous event.
An ancient clan whose inheritance stretched back to the time of the ancient era — standing unshaken through the endless ages, possessing unfathomable depth — had rarely, through countless ages of time, been subjected to someone openly provoking them at their door.
To shatter a ancient aristocratic family’s name plaque, to send their great doors flying — these were acts of extreme and grave consequence. An unimaginable event.
By that same day, word had spread throughout the Southern Region, stirring a tremendous uproar.
In the Eastern Desolation’s Southern Region, the winds of fate were already converging. With the immortal palace’s emergence drawing ten directions’ worth of cultivators, this new storm made the land even more turbulent — a din and clamor without end.
Who was the Peacock King? He was a great figure of the demon clan. Eight hundred years ago he had swept through the Southern Region without opposition. Having lain dormant for many years, with all believing him to have passed into death’s rest — he had now re-emerged.
He had moved directly against an ancient aristocratic family — shocking everyone. What was he trying to do?
A person standing at the absolute pinnacle carried influence that was unimaginable. His every word and action would be scrutinized, taken as a signal of something larger — to tug one hair and move the whole body.
Could it be that the demon clan was preparing to go to war against the human clan?
Different people interpreted it differently. The Southern Region tensed at once.
The Ji Family — inheriting from the ancient era itself — was one of the most powerful forces of the human clan. Such a towering colossus was capable of annihilating countless kingdoms.
What did the Peacock King intend? Provoking the Ji Family in this manner would produce consequences that defied imagination.
Yet very quickly, a communique from those with intelligence-related abilities spread the hidden circumstances: everything had its roots in the matter of the demon emperor’s descendants. The Peacock King was acting on behalf of Yan Ruyu.
Months prior, the Ji Family had surrounded and slaughtered demon clan members in the Wei Kingdom, intending to seize the demon emperor’s sacred weapon. Many great demon beasts had perished, and Yan Ruyu had broken through the encirclement and fled.
Though she was descended from the demon clan’s great emperor, ten thousand years had still passed — seas had turned to mulberry fields — and no past glory, however brilliant, could continue forever.
Yan Ruyu had traveled far, seeking shelter among powerful figures of the demon clan, yet few received her with any genuine warmth. Some, upon learning she possessed the demon emperor’s sacred weapon, even sought to seize it for themselves.
To be a descendant of the demon clan’s great emperor — yet to face such circumstances. How cold the world’s ways could be.
When Yan Ruyu went to the Peacock King seeking refuge, this demon clan great figure was in deep seclusion. Upon receiving word, he immediately broke eight hundred years of sealed meditation, emerged to meet her, and declared plainly that he would seek justice on her behalf.
Shattering the Ji Family’s name plaque, sending their great doors flying — this was already a grave event of extreme consequence, the likes of which might not occur once in several thousand years.
The Peacock King had not forced his way into the Ji Family, for a colossus of that magnitude was fathomlessly deep. Even a demon clan great figure would struggle to emerge unscathed from within.
The Ji Family’s fury erupted. That very day, they issued a command to kill, summoning all senior figures in force, seeking to surround and slay the Peacock King.
However great the Peacock King’s name, however widely his reputation had spread across the Southern Region eight hundred years ago, the Ji Family could not swallow this insult.
As all knew, the depth of the Sacred Grounds and ancient aristocratic clans could not be fathomed. Even in their weakest moments, at every critical juncture, an unparalleled expert would always appear to resolve the crisis.
All the more true of the Ji Family, which now stood in its period of greatest flourishing — unfathomably deep, and certain to pursue the Peacock King’s death.
“This is truly a heaven-shaking event. The Peacock King is clearly making a show of force!”
“In direct confrontation, the Ji Family has experts beyond counting — resistance is certainly impossible. But the Peacock King won’t stand there waiting to be hit. Most likely this will end in nothing conclusive.”
“The Peacock King — he is an existence called a great figure of supreme power. Who will come off worse is impossible to say. Though the Ji Family certainly holds the initiative — after all, they are simply too enormous.”
Everyone was discussing it, and opinions varied.
Ye Fan felt a chill in his heart. The Peacock King’s power was easy enough to imagine, but the Ji Family’s transcendence was beyond measure — this much could be inferred from the words of the various cultivators around him.
Just one day later, a piece of news arrived that shook the entire Southern Region. The Peacock King had suddenly appeared in the Wei Kingdom and beaten to death a Patriarch Elder of the Ji Family who had been a guest at Tai Xuan — crushing him to pieces with his bare hands.
This was nothing short of a major earthquake. When the news first broke, everyone drew a sharp breath of cold air. The Peacock King was clearly prepared for a full-scale battle — this was not merely a matter of smashing a name plaque and humiliating the Ji Family.
What kind of existence was a Ji Family Patriarch Elder? Without question, a genuinely great figure. One who, with a single stamp of his foot, would shake an entire region. It was rare for such figures to be killed, for the repercussions were simply too enormous.
And yet the Peacock King had slaughtered a Ji Family Patriarch Elder in full public view, crushing him to pieces. This was nothing short of a storm of devastating wind and rain — an unimaginable event.
“The Peacock King is terrifyingly powerful — he tore the Ji Family’s Patriarch Elder to shreds…”
“The great powers inherited from the ancient era, whose Patriarch Elders have cultivated to depths that cannot be fathomed — and yet the Peacock King slew one all the same. This truly makes one tremble…”
Every cultivator was alarmed, and spoke of it with cold shivers running through them.
“The Peacock King having such combat power is not surprising. After all, eight hundred years ago he was already sweeping through the Southern Region without any worthy opponents.”
“Indeed — he is called a great figure of supreme power, after all. And what does that mean? It means divine power that floods heaven and earth, and a path that sweeps all before it. That is what it means to be a great figure.”
With the Peacock King having made his move and shaken the Eastern Desolation’s Southern Region, his past deeds and exploits resurfaced one by one, freshly unearthed and retold.
Old events and an entire series of battle records — all of them eye-opening and awe-inspiring, deeply stirring to the heart. Since his debut, the Peacock King had not once suffered defeat throughout the Southern Region — which was precisely why he had been given the title of demon clan great figure.
One could say that in the eight hundred years prior, his glorious deeds were countless, many of them astonishing, shaking the hearts of all who heard them.
To ordinary cultivators, whose lives rarely stretched beyond a hundred years or so, eight hundred years was simply far too remote in the past.
Perhaps, read as text, it seemed merely a number, a symbol. But truly contemplating it — that was a very long stretch of history.
When Ye Fan heard the number eight hundred years, he found himself thinking of the other shore of the starry sky. Eight hundred years back from here — that would be the Song Dynasty era, in his memory. Truly ancient, truly long ago.
Sifting back through the past, people found that the Peacock King was indeed extraordinary. Slaying Patriarch Elders of super-tier great powers was not the first time — eight hundred years ago he had already cut down two renowned major figures of the Yao Guang Sacred Ground.
In those days, it had stirred a tremendous uproar — the Yao Guang Sacred Ground had pursued him for a full fifty years, yet had not managed to kill him.
In that era, he had experienced countless great battles. One could say his imposing might had intimidated the entire Eastern Desolation’s Southern Region. Of these, the most influential battle was his duel with the Yao Guang Sacred Master — an event that drew the eyes of the entire world, a battle that shook heaven and earth, and blotted out the sun and moon.
The Peacock King and the Yao Guang Sacred Master fought for three full days and nights. The final result was a draw — undecided. But that alone was enough to look down upon all the world, for the master of a Sacred Ground was the most exalted figure in the Eastern Desolation.
He had departed in flight after that battle. It was precisely that confrontation that had truly established his supreme reputation, and earned him the title of great figure.
A Patriarch Elder had been slain, and the Ji Family’s fury erupted.
Several of the Ji Family’s great figures, who had originally intended to proceed to the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace, immediately changed course to pursue and kill the Peacock King. The Ji Family’s patriarch himself emerged from seclusion, intending personally to slay this demon clan great figure.
The Peacock King might be able to contend with the Ji Family’s apex existences individually, yet he could not stand against a force of such colossal scale. He could only strike and retreat far away.
Was he prepared to stop here and be done with it? Perhaps he would fall dormant again — that was what everyone believed.
But very quickly, more news arrived. The Peacock King had struck again, slaying several of the Ji Family’s senior figures — the powerful cultivators who had been protecting Ji Haoyue. He clearly intended to extinguish the Ji Family’s Sacred Physique.
This was more severe than anything else that had happened. What the Sacred Physique represented — everyone understood. It was the Ji Family’s guardian deity of the future, capable of ensuring their flourishing for thousands of years. It was, quite simply, their very lifeblood.
The various great powers, even knowing the threat a Sacred Physique represented, would not dare strike it down. To do so would drive the Ji Family to a state of frenzied madness, a fight to the death without end.
Yet the Peacock King was precisely this decisive — moving directly to snuff out the Ji Family’s hope, to kill the future Eastern Desolation Divine King.
One could say he had touched the Ji Family’s most absolute reverse scale. Yet at the same moment, the Ji Family was deeply uneasy — dispatching a great number of powerful figures to search in all directions and mount a rescue.
The Eastern Desolation’s Southern Region erupted in complete turmoil, with rumors of all kinds springing up.
“Ji Haoyue is indeed remarkable. Worthy of being the Eastern Desolation Sacred Physique, the future Divine King — he was not killed in that first moment. He used a secret technique and fled.”
“The latest news: the last of the senior figures protecting Ji Haoyue has been slain. He has escaped alone. The Peacock King is pursuing him relentlessly — he seems utterly resolved to extinguish the Ji Family’s hope.”
The Ji Family, though powerful and overawing the Eastern Desolation, could not control every inch of ground. In the short term, they could not locate Ji Haoyue or make contact with him. They could only follow the trail of those senior figures’ corpses and pursue from there.
“It’s over — the Southern Region is going to be turned upside down. If the Sacred Physique comes to any harm, the Ji Family will stop at nothing to overturn every piece of ground in this land!”
“He dares to provoke even the Ji Family — the Peacock King’s divine might is truly unfathomable!”
How many ages the Peacock King — comparable to a great figure of ancient times — had existed in this world, and how mighty his power truly was, no one could say clearly. Some speculated that his lifespan was nearly at its end, and that this was why he acted without care or constraint.
Ye Fan felt that none of this had anything to do with him, and gave it little attention or thought.
It was a small mountain village — roosters crowing, hounds barking, garden plots lush and green, fish ponds scattered about. When he walked into it, he suddenly heard a voice so faint it was nearly extinguished: “Little brat…”