Inside the green bronze cauldron, those ancient syllables were strangely eerie — like ceremonial chants from a primordial age reaching across time and space, and yet also like wails and cries, utterly bizarre beyond all measure.
The shattered cauldron blazed with radiance, brilliant as a blazing sun, translucent throughout. All manner of flowers and birds, fish and insects, as well as sun, moon, and stars appeared in full display, while within the cauldron’s mouth, a vast primordial sea surged and churned.
“What’s happening?” Both Li Tian and Yan Yixi were stunned.
Ye Fan drew Xiao Nannan close, and could not help but step back several paces, shielding the little one to prevent any accident. Inside the shattered cauldron, the Divine Child howled and wailed, shouting aloud as he rose and sank within the primordial sea.
“Damn the heavens — you can’t treat me like this!”
All across his body, rune after rune suddenly appeared, blindingly bright. In an instant they shot skyward like crashing waves surging against the shore, sweeping across all the heavens.
Boom!
The little fatty’s body seemed to explode — a peculiar surge of rosy light burst forth, and several runes shattered and disintegrated. Then he went completely still and motionless.
Had the Divine Child died? The group was startled. Ye Fan was stunned most of all, for he could sense that the little fatty no longer held even the faintest trace of life!
The runes that had shattered were extraordinary — each one as tall as the child himself. Eight or nine appeared in succession, then vanished entirely, leaving all who witnessed it astonished.
“Surely this little fellow hasn’t truly met with disaster?” Li Tian tried poking him once. Not the slightest response.
Mist and haze drifted within the cauldron. The little fatty lay sealed inside the Immortal Source without the slightest movement, showing no sign whatsoever of life. No one had anticipated this outcome.
At this moment, the shattered cauldron’s radiance withdrew inward, the green glow gradually dissipating until it grew calm once more, returning again to its rust-covered, battered appearance — the sort that would go unnoticed even if tossed among a pile of scrap metal and broken copper.
Ye Fan retrieved the Immortal Source from inside. The little fatty within had his eyes tightly shut, yet his skin was smooth and luminous — not at all the look of someone gravely injured.
After about a quarter of an hour, the little one suddenly showed signs of life once more, and then his eyes snapped open. He let out a great shout: “That felt absolutely wonderful!”
Everyone: “…”
“Feigning death — and here we thought you were actually gone!” After a pause, Li Tian naturally rewarded him with a slap.
“I feel as though I’ve been reborn — so much lighter and more agile than before!” He cried out with great excitement. But the moment he saw Xiao Nannan blinking her big eyes at him, he wilted immediately.
“Can you please not let her come near me?” He said in a tearful tone, for immortal qi was still flowing out of his body and continuously entering Xiao Nannan — a natural suppression he could do nothing about.
“What exactly happened to you?” Yan Yixi probed, yet found nothing at all.
Ye Fan lifted the little fatty up, held him against the sunlight, and turned him over and back again, examining him like a rare and wondrous artifact, brilliant divine light shooting from his eyes.
“Hey, what are you doing?! I am the future supreme sovereign — if you offend me, you’ll have no good days ahead of you!” The Divine Child grew indignant, making threatening sounds with a fierce expression.
Unfortunately, Ye Fan paid him no attention, and in the end found nothing out of the ordinary. He set him back down.
This place returned to calm. Ye Fan and Li Tian, along with Yan Yixi, exchanged glances, then all fixed their eyes on the little fatty, each harboring much the same suspicion in their hearts.
“Connected to the green bronze cauldron — could this child be a descendant of an Emperor Sovereign?”
“Indeed. The ceremonial chants within this little fatty’s Immortal Platform are far too grand. Who could possibly match that? They must have been produced during an Emperor Sovereign’s burial!”
“Not necessarily — perhaps it’s the Kunlun Divine Fetus.”
Mount Kunlun was strange beyond measure. It had given birth to an Immortal Bell, and had also produced a green cauldron — both transcending mortal understanding.
In the end, unwilling to let it rest, Li Tian made a more decisive attempt. He placed the little fatty back into the cauldron once more, then had Xiao Nannan press directly against the Immortal Source.
“Ahh…”
This place instantly erupted into something like the slaughter of chickens and ducks. The Divine Child screamed in misery as immortal light shot in all directions, spilling out in large quantities — yet no peculiar reaction manifested.
Moreover, the green cauldron remained as still as an ancient well with no ripples, without a trace of radiance, its surface mottled with rust. This time, it produced no anomaly whatsoever.
This came as a surprise to everyone. All the strange signs had vanished. The Divine Child and the green bronze cauldron appeared to have lost their connection entirely — baffling beyond comprehension.
Every last clue had disappeared — as if the bond had been completely severed!
In the end, Ye Fan put away the green cauldron, finally giving the Divine Child relief. Now, with Xiao Nannan added to the mix, the little fatty had become thoroughly obedient and well-behaved.
The Ziwei Star Domain was in a state of great uproar. Ye Fan had cut down so many powerful experts, shaking the world to its core.
Blood flowed across the frozen plains, the four wilds blanketed in white — this was an earth-shattering affair. Every major sect had suffered tremendous losses. Yet what stirred the hearts of all above everything else was the human-form Immortal Medicine, which had fallen into Ye Fan’s hands. Who could remain calm?
“He is just one man. No matter how powerful, can he truly make enemies of the entire world?”
“With the whole world against him, defying the will of the masses — he will come to no good end!”
Some burned with fury. Those who had lost elders and companions from their sects could not hold back their cries and curses.
This was a tide of rage. None of the great powers were willing to accept it. Setting aside the deaths of those they were close to — the human-form Immortal Medicine alone was enough to drive the entire world to madness!
In the far north, the Ice Demon Palace was shaken with towering fury. Every person they had sent out had perished, and their iron cavalry had been wiped out to the last — enough to grind their steel teeth to dust with rage.
Yet they had no choice but to endure it. The battle prowess of the Human Race’s Sacred Body now inspired dread in all, and no one dared to rashly provoke him.
But they could not accept this!
“Since he dares to be so arrogant, then let the whole world become his enemy. Let all under heaven join together to kill him!” One of the Guardians of the Ice Demon Palace said coldly, his words saturated with an icy, bone-deep chill.
“In truth, it has already come to that. He has killed so many people, making enemies of the Divine Court, the Nether Ridge Longevity Temple, and others. He has already offended all under heaven — one need only give him a slight push. From this point forward, he will be the number one demon of the mortal world.” Another Vice Sect Master spoke. His words were utterly cold and detached, yet his expression was one of serene calm.
The Ice Demon Palace was naturally seething with grievances. On this day they fanned the flames, stirring up waves of agitation, secretly amplifying and disseminating all manner of negative accounts of Ye Fan’s killings.
They embellished, fabricated, twisted things out of context, and continually slandered him — weaving together many vile falsehoods to defame and vilify him.
“He, as the Human Race’s Sacred Body, believes he is invincible and seeks to command all under heaven, slaughtering in all directions.”
“This man Ye Fan is formidable. He now possesses the human-form Immortal Medicine and has seized the chance to ascend to immortality — yet that was a discovery made jointly by all the major sects, and he bloodily slaughtered them all on the Northern Plains, keeping the precious medicine entirely to himself.”
“He once declared that it matters nothing to him if the whole world stands against him, that he would slaughter his way through all under heaven. This is truly the behavior of a demonic fiend. The Divine Court, the Longevity Temple, the Demon Alliance, the Primordial Demon Sect — they hold dominion over all under heaven. Can they tolerate such reckless arrogance?”
…
The Ice Demon Palace stirred up unrest, pushing Ye Fan to the opposing side of the Human Race, secretly spreading all manner of rumors — hoping to rouse the emotions of the entire world and rally them to jointly suppress him and seize the Immortality Medicine.
Ye Fan responded with nothing but a cold smile. These major sects were powerful, yet they were by no means representative of the entire world. Could such pressure and intimidation frighten him?
His miraculous arts were a marvel to the world, capable of reaching heaven and moving the earth. Among the forces of the far north, the first to feel his great divine power was the Ice Demon Palace — and this now confirmed his suspicion: it had been this sect that was behind all the agitation.
Within the Ice Demon Palace, voices of dissent arose. But the Vice Sect Master and the Guardians held control, insisting on leveraging the great tide of the world against Ye Fan — drawing in all the major powers to converge and jointly execute him.
And so the clamor rose to the heavens, and all manner of slander and rumor spread without end.
“Human Race’s Sacred Body — what gives you the right? Just because your bloodline is powerful, you dare bully all your fellow cultivators under heaven?!”
“It was clearly we who discovered the human-form Divine Medicine first. Yet for the sake of your own selfish desires, you slaughtered all the heroes of the frozen plains and seized it for yourself — cold-blooded, without a shred of humanity!”
“The Immortal Medicine rightfully belongs to the major sects, for it was we who discovered it. Refined into an Immortal Elixir and shared among all under heaven — how can it be allowed to fall into the hands of this demonic fiend?”
“To justify swallowing the Immortality Medicine for himself, he even concocted a story claiming that little girl is his sister — what a laughably ironic tale! The human heart, truly — greed without end!”
…
The Ice Demon Palace stirred up unrest, and all under heaven boiled over. Many powerful wandering cultivators emerged from seclusion — for no other reason than that the Immortality Medicine alone was worth a journey to witness firsthand.
“Restless indeed.” These were Ye Fan’s only words in response. Carrying Xiao Nannan along, he set off with Li Tian and Yan Yixi toward the deepest reaches of the northern lands — their destination, naturally, the Ice Demon Palace.
Xiao Cao accompanied them. She had already bade farewell to her family, choosing to become a cultivator who could soar through the sky and travel the earth. Though she left with tears streaming down her face, she was still a child at heart, and within half a day her spirits had recovered considerably.
She and Xiao Nannan were together, the two little ones running and leaping about — a joyful and loving sight.
The Divine Child had no wish to be sealed inside a magical artifact, but being out in the open air meant unavoidably running into Xiao Nannan — a dilemma he found deeply troubling. He had no choice but to yield, and earnestly pleaded with Ye Fan and Li Tian to take good “care” of him.
“What — Ye Fan is coming?”
When news reached the people of the Ice Demon Palace, a deathly silence fell over them from top to bottom. Then came a jolt of alarm. The information had leaked too quickly — they had only mobilized a handful of key figures to stir things up, and yet Ye Fan had already seen through it this swiftly.
“All the major sects have come to the north and entered the frozen plains. With peerless powerhouses emerging from seclusion, would he truly dare defy the will of all under heaven?”
Some were unsettled, yet none wished to let their apprehension show.
Boom!
Suddenly, a thunderous crash rang out. An entire palace hall collapsed. A massive bronze placard came plummeting down from the sky, smashing into the main hall and causing it to crumble completely.
“Outrageous — what an audacious act!”
Several elder-generation figures erupted in fury. This was the placard that had hung at the entrance of their sect. It had been smacked flying by someone and sent hurtling inside, demolishing their great hall of deliberation.
In how many years had such a thing ever occurred? They could barely believe the result before them — this was truly unbridled arrogance!
It was naturally Ye Fan and the others who had arrived. Approaching the vast expanse of ice palaces, they beheld a grand and magnificent complex rising majestically from the frozen wasteland, towering and solemn, as though it had stood there since time immemorial.
After arriving, they paused not a moment. They forced their way through the sect’s entrance directly, and with a single slap sent the bronze placard flying — this was clearly a visit to demand an accounting.
Not a soul could stop them. This was a holy land — one that had produced a Quasi-Emperor ten-plus tens of thousands of years ago — but the formation patterns had long since eroded almost entirely. As for the few Great Saint formations that remained, none were capable of stopping Ye Fan.
“Halt!” Someone roared.
Whoosh! Ye Fan swept his wide sleeve, and that person was sent flying dozens of miles in an instant.
“This is the ancestral ground of our Ice Demon Palace. Fellow Daoist, please restrain yourself. If you wish to see our Sect Master, please wait here a moment while we go and report.” An elder, more experienced voice spoke up, hoping to buy some time.
The formation guardians, Venerables, and others who protected the sect’s entrance all appeared, standing in a row to block the way. But Ye Fan opened his mouth and exhaled a great gale that swept them all up and blasted them away a hundred miles.
“You go too far! Do you truly believe there is no one in all the world who can restrain you?!” From the highest hall of the Ice Demon Palace, someone bellowed in rage. To have their gates forced, their deliberation hall overturned, and to suffer this while the entire world watched — it was like being slapped across the face in public, a tremendous humiliation.
Boom!
Without warning, an iron sword cut horizontally through the air and came crashing down. The massive sword radiance smashed into the highest hall, dimming the Great Saint formation patterns within. The entire ancient hall was cleaved cleanly in two!