“What now? Both Holy Masters have arrived together — storming in here — there’s no chance this ends peacefully.” Qin Yao was frowning, and even so, she was captivating. The one thing she felt grateful for was the presence of the Northern Region’s great power, the Azure Dragon King. Without him, the Peacock King would truly have been fighting alone.
“Qin Yao — move away from me, quickly. It will be very dangerous if you stay close.” Ye Fan transmitted his voice in a low tone.
“Come with me.” Qin Yao urged.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to leave today — even the Peacock King won’t be able to protect me.” Ye Fan was perfectly calm. No fear, no panic.
After all, the Ji Family had vowed that even if the Holy Master of Yao Guang obtained the Great Void Technique, they would find a way to take it back. Now they had descended in force upon this place — there was every reason to believe they had no intention of letting him go.
He was certainly the primary target of their search. Even the Holy Master of the Ji Family had appeared in person, and the Peacock King would have no way to keep him safe — taking him away would be tantamount to taking a portion of the Void Ancient Scripture, and this was a fight to the death with no possibility of compromise.
“What secret art of the Ji Family did you steal?” Qin Yao asked.
“Stop asking — knowing too much will get the Ji Family after you too. Go, quickly — or it will be too late!”
Qin Yao grabbed his wrist and said: “Leave together — you don’t need to face this.”
Ye Fan shook his head. “You go first. I have my own plan.”
Seeing that he firmly refused, Qin Yao glanced back at him and smiled radiantly. “Be careful. You must survive. If you want to ‘go all out,’ you have to make it through this safely.”
The number of silhouettes appearing in this pocket of space grew steadily — and it was not only cultivators from the Ji Family and the Yao Guang Holy Land who had arrived. Even powerful experts from the Supreme Mystery Sect and the Carefree Gate had joined the gathering.
This was a force beyond imagination. Silhouettes packed half the sky, dense as a swarm. This force had come entirely to encircle and annihilate the Peacock King.
Had the Azure Dragon King not been here, the Peacock King might truly have fallen in defeat today. Even as things stood, the situation was far from favorable.
The Holy Master of the Ji Family merged with the void — empty as the great Dao, silent as the cosmic expanse. His voice seemed to come from some eternal unknown, distant and low: “Peacock King — before we settle things between you and me, I want one person from you.”
Ye Fan had no need to guess. The Holy Master of the Ji Family was speaking about him.
Sure enough, as he had expected — a great power like the Holy Master of the Ji Family personally named him. To be mentioned by such a figure — under ordinary circumstances, any other cultivator would have felt honored.
But Ye Fan no longer even had the inclination to weep. This kind of naming was tantamount to a death sentence.
“Are you truly certain you want me to hand over this young man?” The Peacock King said with a meaningful tone.
“Naturally!” The Holy Master of the Ji Family uttered those two words, and they reverberated like divine sound — deep within the pocket of space, many demon tribe cultivators stumbled, nearly falling to the ground.
The Peacock King let out a cold laugh, his gaze sweeping across those before him, and said: “Do not think that because your Ji Family has powerful experts in abundance, none can compete with you. If you kill him, I dare say it will certainly bring great trouble.”
At those words, not only the Ji Family but even cultivators from the other factions were stunned.
“Idle threats!” In the distance, a Ji Family venerable elder, displeased, shouted back sharply.
“Ye Fan, come here.” The Peacock King beckoned.
Ye Fan had no choice but to shoot up into the sky and come to stand before him, not knowing what the Peacock King intended to say.
In that instant, he felt countless killing intentions surge toward him — the vast majority from Ji Family cultivators.
The Peacock King laughed freely, and his next words were enough to stun everyone to silence: “If he is killed… your so-called ‘deep foundations’ might not be enough either — unless a divine king of the Ji Family refuses to die and crawls back out of his grave. Otherwise… heh heh!”
Was there such a person in the world? Someone who dared go head-to-head with the Ji Family? No one believed it.
After all, great powers like the Yao Guang Holy Land and the Ji Family — no one could truly say how unfathomably deep they were.
“Ye Fan — show them your movement technique.” A smile played on the Peacock King’s elegant face.
By now, Ye Fan understood perfectly well what he was supposed to do. He needed to use the banner of another to show his own might.
Without hesitation, he left a series of afterimages in the sky, demonstrating the movement technique taught to him by the Mad Elder.
The Holy Master of the Ji Family said nothing at all — he simply stood there, still and silent, without any reaction whatsoever.
The Holy Master of Yao Guang was wreathed in his one hundred and eight rings of light. It seemed as though worlds without number surrounded him. Like a divine king, he asked calmly: “Young man — who taught you this movement technique?”
“My older brother, the Mad Elder.” Ye Fan replied with complete composure and steadiness.
At those words, the Peacock King nearly stumbled. He thought inwardly with some exasperation that this young man had gone too far. Even when he himself had encountered the Mad Elder, he had respectfully addressed him as “senior.”
The Holy Master of Yao Guang was enveloped in his halo — his true countenance unseen — but from the long stretch of silence that followed, one could easily imagine he was rendered utterly speechless.
The Holy Master of the Ji Family showed even less reaction — merged as he was with the void, he seemed to have vanished entirely.
“Who did you say this ‘Mad Elder’ is?” a Ji Family venerable elder pressed.
“A deranged old man. People say he has lived for six thousand years.” Ye Fan steadied himself completely and said: “My older brother is actually rather pitiable — his mind is unclear, he frequently loses himself…”
Your grandfather’s! Even the Peacock King was at a loss for words. Calling him “older brother” over and over — how was anyone supposed to take that? That was a peerless figure from six thousand years ago.
“My older brother carries a sorrow in his heart…”
“My older brother cannot forget the past…”
“My older brother…”
Ye Fan went on and on, entirely disregarding the reactions of the people around him, spinning one fabrication after another.
In the end, even the Peacock King could stand it no longer and transmitted his voice in secret: “Young man — are you addicted to this? ‘Mad Elder older brother’ coming out of your mouth over and over — I imagine quite a few people here want to strangle you with their bare hands!”
“Nothing but nonsense!” A Ji Family venerable elder could not hold back and barked sharply: “What standing does the Mad Elder have? You… you have no idea how vast the heavens and earth truly are!”
“If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do about it.” Ye Fan spread his hands, then moved his feet in the mysterious movement technique, calmly stepping backward.
This left everyone even more speechless — Ye Fan was clearly using his actions to demonstrate in real terms that he had some great connection to the Mad Elder.
In truth, many people had already worked out that Ye Fan must be connected to the Mad Elder. But even if you beat them to death, they would not believe that the Mad Elder was his “older brother.” This young man was obviously making it all up on the spot.
“Don’t think you’re out of trouble. The Mad Elder has long since gone mad after all — openly, no one dares provoke him. But once the chaos starts, there will certainly be people who will kill you regardless.” The Peacock King transmitted his voice in secret: “Before this — did the Ji Family truly not know? They had already pursued you before, so they certainly found out long ago. The reason they’re not pointing it out now is simply because they want to pretend they don’t know.”
A chill settled in Ye Fan’s heart. He too had guessed at this. His situation was still precarious. The one thing that gave him some reassurance was that the two Holy Masters would most likely not personally make a move against him.
“My older brother the Mad Elder said he would come to find me again before long.” Ye Fan put it this way.
Your grandfather’s! Many people wanted to say those very words to him.
In that moment, the Holy Masters of Yao Guang and the Ji Family ignored him entirely — they treated him as if he did not exist, not sparing him another glance.
The Holy Master of the Ji Family called out: “Peacock King — you have challenged my Ji Family again and again. Today, you cannot escape your fate!”
Now it had come down to nothing but strength.
In the void, with a simple, direct motion, he struck out one palm. A thunderous crash rang out — the pocket of space opened by the ancient sage fractured all at once, on the verge of complete collapse.
At the same time, the Holy Master of Yao Guang strode forward and declared: “Peacock King — you escaped me eight hundred years ago. Today you will not escape again!”
The Peacock King laughed freely. “I soar freely across all under heaven — who can stand in my way? Who can stop me?” His black hair flew, and step by step he advanced. He merged with heaven and man as one, and a strange pulse reverberated outward.
“Splat, splat…”
At that very moment, behind the two Holy Masters, people began to explode continuously — bursting apart into mist of blood. They were being killed by the reverberations of the Peacock King’s footsteps alone.
In nearly the blink of an eye, over a hundred cultivators had been shattered to powder, reduced to dust in a state of complete unawareness — leaving behind only a faint drift of blood mist.
The great power of the demon tribe had barely revealed the first fraction of his divine abilities, and he had already subdued every person present.
At the same time, the Azure Dragon King stepped forward, joining the Peacock King, and together they faced the two Holy Masters.
“Kill…!”
Battle cries shook the heavens. The great battle erupted in full.
Without question, this would be a battle drenched in blood. The Peacock King and the Azure Dragon King had not fled — they sought to buy a thread of survival for the demon tribe cultivators here, standing to face the two Holy Masters, and would soon face the encirclement and killing of the many venerable elders.
Ye Fan turned and fled. Right now, even being called “older brother” by the Mad Elder was useless. Once the chaotic battle erupted, a great many people would be looking to cut him down in the confusion.
The one fortunate thing was that neither Holy Master personally moved to stop him. They let him retreat from the central battlefield, without surrounding him on the spot.
“Hey, you surnamed Ye — hold it right there!” From behind, no fewer than several hundred people were in hot pursuit of Ye Fan — all young disciples of the Ji Family.
Last time, Ye Fan had spoken with abandon and bellowed at the Ji Family to get lost, and news of it had spread throughout the Southern Region. He had long since become the common enemy of the Ji Family’s entire younger generation.
Hundreds of people in pursuit — what could he possibly fight? If every one of them spat on him, the combined volume would bury him. Ye Fan made his escape and had no intention of standing his ground.
“Hey, you surnamed Ye — stand there if you’ve got the guts!”
“Your grandfather’s, if you’ve got the guts, stop chasing me!” Ye Fan shot back without the slightest change of expression, and moved even faster.
“You little thief Ye — stop running right now! This senior aunt will give you a hundred rounds, and will still capture and kill you!” A female Ji Family disciple called out sharply.
“Don’t chase me — you’re too ugly, I can’t be bothered to fight you.” Even while fleeing, Ye Fan made time to fire back a few taunts.
Some of the female disciples behind him were furious to their limits, yet they truly could not catch up with Ye Fan. That mysterious movement technique left them far in the dust.
“You little thief Ye — you are the common enemy of our Ji Family’s entire younger generation. Even if you run to the ends of the earth, we will hunt you down!”
“Aren’t you still dreaming? You’re talking nonsense — go home and sleep it off.”
After that, Ye Fan dared not say more. The ones still shouting were Ji Family disciples of relatively low cultivation — he had already shaken all of them off. But a great many had gone silent, and those ones were still in pursuit — no fewer than several dozen.
“Ji Hui — you wretched old hag, you truly are a ghost that won’t leave me alone!” Ye Fan was alarmed to discover that Ji Hui and several venerable elders were personally joining the chase.
Ji Hui’s expression was ashen. She said nothing — simply pursued without pause. Without the Peacock King stepping forward to shield him this time, she did not believe Ye Fan could escape.
A burst of silvery laughter rang out — like large and small pearls cascading onto a jade plate, clear and melodious, the voice soft and sweet. “Little Ye — don’t run anymore. Come with elder sister and you’ll be safe.”
Ye Fan looked back and spotted a strikingly tall and sensual woman. Above her head hung a disk of pale jade moonlight, her bare feet resting upon five-colored lightning, unhurried yet no slower than the several venerable elders.
She was dressed in flowing green robes, bewitching and graceful, her skin soft and snow-white. Though she was in the midst of a pursuit, she radiated captivating elegance, her large eyes like pools of water — alluring and beautiful, her white teeth pressing softly on her red lips, lending her an extra measure of charm.
“Who are you?”
“Your servant is Ji Biyue.” She smiled sweetly, not the slightest trace of killing intent about her.
“Oh damn — it’s you!” Ye Fan felt a cold jolt of alertness. This sensual woman had even dared attempt to kill her own younger sister. She was absolutely ruthless.
At that very moment, Ye Fan also spotted Hua Yunfei joining the chase — drifting forward from behind like a wisp of pure cloud, his blue robes dancing in the breeze, transcendent and immaculate.
At the same instant, he also spotted the Holy Maiden of Yao Guang — like the first bloom of a sacred lotus, her skin crystalline, a rosy glow emanating from her jade form, possessing a beauty that could shame the moon and cause flowers to hide their faces. She was clad in flowing white, like a celestial being descended from the Moon Palace, and she was moving toward him.
“Beautiful lady of Yao Guang — why are you chasing me too?”
The Holy Maiden of Yao Guang’s celestial beauty was without peer, her eyes flowing with light as she smiled — a smile before which a hundred flowers would lose their color. She transmitted her voice: “Little brother Ye, why run? Come with me to the Yao Guang Holy Land — no one can touch you there. Not even the Ji Family.”