The emperor city was vast. Some said it had been built by Emperor Venerables; others said it was even older than that — impossible to verify. It was extraordinarily magnificent. Even Ye Fan, who had seen great things and traveled widely, was thoroughly astonished.

On both sides of the roads, magnificent halls stood one after another, shining with all manner of light. Arrays and Dao-patterns covered them densely; these structures seemed to breathe with a life of their own.

The one discordant note was the bloodstains on the walls — as on the outermost city walls, stained in those distant ages by the blood of the most extraordinary youths of their era, it had never faded to this day.

“So that is the Sacred Physique, Ye Fan. He does not appear to be anything particularly special — how can he have such astonishing power within his body?”

People stood along the roadsides and atop some of the tall structures, watching the four of them walking, all of them trying to gauge Ye Fan’s depths and current state.

The number of races that had come here was immense — giant beasts as large as mountains, enchantresses who could topple cities, luminous angels radiating light, demons from the depths of the cosmic abyss.

“Brother, how did you survive?” A giant asked. He stood some ten zhang tall, powerfully built to an extreme degree, his tendons like yellow dragons, his voice tremendous as a thunderclap.

Ye Fan smiled. “Heaven chose not to take me. It is as simple as that.”

Many people wanted to know the details, but naturally Ye Fan could not reveal them. They could only speculate in private — this was destined to remain an unanswered question.

Ahead stood a stone arch bridge, beneath which water flowed. Above it, mists and vapors billowed, a variety of luminous rays danced, and the concentration of spiritual energy was astonishing.

Such was the emperor city — a place supremely suited for cultivation. Countless arrays were in operation here, capable of converting the stellar energy of all the heavens and transforming it into Life Essence to be channeled into the city for cultivators to draw upon.

Every place within the city could serve as a dwelling. Even if someone had already claimed a spot, one could simply fight their way in — on this road, there was only one principle: survival of the fittest, with the strong as sovereign.

All eyes were fixed on Ye Fan, watching where he would go, their gazes moving with his footsteps. By now, every towering structure in the city had been claimed by someone, and trying to enter by force would inevitably lead to a bloody battle.

Would it be Yin Tiande’s residence? Or perhaps Yao Guang’s place of enlightenment? Many were eager to find out.

From the tips of Ye Fan’s fingers, blood seeped out once more. This time there were ten chains of divine order — as vivid as the tail-feathers of a phoenix, dazzlingly radiant. In that moment he closed his eyes, the divine chains from his fingers lifting, pointing in a direction.

He followed his instinct and stepped forward.

People were astonished. They found that he had ultimately arrived at the central region — the territory where the most fearsome and formidable adversaries resided, each one with an extraordinary background.

The Divine Venerable, the Great Mighty Sacred Spirit, the Nine Calamity Daoist, Yin Tiande, Yao Guang — all of them were nearby!

At the center stood a great lake. Mists and vapors enveloped it, and from time to time, chaotic light erupted outward from within it, carrying a powerful spiritual force that nourished the surrounding halls and palaces.

Without question, the structures built around the chaotic lake were the most ideal places for enlightenment and cultivation.

The sound rang out — clear and melodious.

From the tips of Ye Fan’s fingers, ten chains soared upward, their sound crisp and pleasant, pointing in a direction — aimed at a magnificent and imposing great palace. And in that moment, his eyes snapped open with sudden force.

Boom!

All at once, a boundless killing aura erupted from within the palace. In that single instant, the entire city was shaken — what kind of slaughter would it take to produce such a terrifying scene?!

Countless wrathful souls wailed; innumerable malevolent spirits wheeled and danced, rushing upward from within that great hall. Blood and fire soared to the heavens!

It was like an endless calamity of slaughter. Vaguely and imperceptibly, tens of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of living beings wept and howled. A surging tide of blood-mist rose from that place, turning everything vivid red — enough to nearly drown the Emperor Pass entirely.

And within the blood-mist, skulls bobbed and drifted; headless divine and demonic bodies lay sprawled through the air. These were all ethereal apparitions, yet they gave the impression of something deeply real.

A figure of no particularly great stature walked forth — not especially imposing in build, yet every step he took caused the magnificent Emperor Pass and the starry sky to tremble once. He possessed a terrifying and demonic power, walking out from within the blood-mist.

“Those blood and bones behind him — all of it truly happened. What manner of blood calamity has this person endured?!”

On ordinary days, all people knew was that those who occupied this area were extremely difficult to provoke — they could not know the background of every individual. This person had been entirely unknown to them before.

He was clad in black war-armor. His was a medium build, yet within the blood-mist he was terrifying and awe-inspiring — like an all-conquering demon lord who had brought chaos to primordial antiquity. Standing there alone, he seemed to suppress the entire emperor city.

Everyone was astonished. This aura of bringing chaos and ruin to the world made every single person feel deeply uncomfortable, causing the bloodlines of many of the strong to react — their entire bodies threatening to shatter.

Beams of blood-colored lightning danced through the air and came crashing down upon him, with rolling thunder and wind, as though the heavens themselves were enraged, intent on annihilating him.

This was extraordinarily strange — as though this person had no right to exist in this world, rejected by heaven and earth. Blood-rain fell and lightning crackled around him, and the ground where he stood became a forbidden zone.

The sight raised the hair on one’s neck!

“A disciple of the Eternal Heavenly Venerable?” Ye Fan asked.

These words, once spoken, shook the entire emperor city. A figure from the age of myth? This was too astonishing — how impossibly ancient was that!

Even Ye Tong, Hua Hua, and the others were thoroughly startled. They had witnessed Ye Fan slaying the Seven Champions of Chaos, but they had not known that he had already used the Blood-Order Divine Chains to capture a fragment of the imprint left by the one behind the scenes.

None were not shocked. The age of myth was far too distant — so distant that people could not say how many tens of thousands of years ago it had been, there being no precise figure at all. It was more ancient than the ancient emperors, more ancient than the Emperor Venerables — it was a primordial history in which divine beings and demons danced together, all of them pursuing immortality.

“Was it you who sent people to block my master’s entry into the city?” Yang Xi demanded in fury.

That had been a humiliation — not even allowing entry through the gate, sending people to intercept and kill. It was outrageous conduct.

This person’s entire body was shrouded in armor. Only his pair of pupils was visible — blood-red, fierce and maddened, filled with savagery. They did not look like human eyes — within them there was only slaughter and destruction.

His aura of blood energy soared to the heavens. With a single stride he crossed the distance, his form expanding in an instant to enormous size. The foot he raised was dozens of zhang across, and with a thunderous crash he brought it stomping downward, aimed at the four of them — master and disciples alike.

This was sheer ferocity and arrogance. In the face of the Sacred Physique, Ye Fan, and his three disciples, to simply come stomping down with one foot — what manner of violent and insolent conduct was this?

Yang Xi erupted in fury, leaping into the air, his own body expanding in size. He sent a kick forward, colliding with that enormous foot, detonating a terrifying light as countless symbols flickered — the ripples of the supreme Dao radiating outward.

Golden light and blood-light flashed simultaneously, like countless stars exploding. Were it not for the Emperor Pass being said to never fall or sustain damage, this place would have been reduced to cosmic dust in an instant.

Yang Xi was pushed back, while the other person reverted to normal stature and landed with a crash on the ground, shattering the road beneath his feet — sand and stones flying in all directions, blood-mist surging wildly.

The destroyed road restored itself instantly, however — that was the marvel of the Emperor Pass.

Blood-colored lightning continued to coil around him. However one looked at him, he was a devil-spawn — a person who ought not to exist in the world, full of sin and chaos and blood.

Heaven’s punishment kept falling. Though not particularly powerful — it was simply drawn down automatically by the detection of his aura, nothing more — it spoke to one thing: his very existence seemingly truly was something this world could not tolerate. The moment he exposed his aura, he drew down heaven’s punishment!

Ye Fan was puzzled. How could a disciple of the Eternal Heavenly Venerable be like this? A person who ought to have been approaching the eternal Dao — yet who was more demon-like than any demon, a compound of blood and chaos.

“My existence is the result of the old one’s experiments in pursuit of eternal life. I was forged from tens of thousands upon millions of blood-souls.” His voice was icy cold — like a corpse speaking.

Many people opened their heavenly eyes. A few among them possessed pupils that had stolen the workings of creation — capable, like Ye Fan, of penetrating falsehood and looking directly upon the source.

Within this person’s body, a wellspring of blood energy wailed and howled. Within it were numberless living beings; vaguely one could perceive great stars destroyed, countless lives stripped of their vitality.

All present shuddered. This person was too terrifying. No wonder the heavens could not tolerate him — he was truly forged of blood and sin, not a normal living being in any sense.

“He created me, and so naturally I will help him destroy all those he considered enemies. Since he died because of the Great Sacred Physique, I will slaughter every last one of the Sacred Physique lineage!”

Having said this, he bared his teeth in a cold smile — the teeth there an expanse of snow-white, gleaming with cold light, like the fangs of a wild beast.

“Swoosh!”

Leaving behind only an afterimage, he shot forward like a bolt of blood-colored lightning. Behind him were the bodies of divine beings and demons, white skulls, bobbing and drifting in what seemed like an ocean of blood-mist — setting him off against a backdrop of pure demonic nature.

Ye Tong, Hua Hua, and Yang Xi all struck out together, for they sensed that this person was peculiar — filled with an aura impossible to name or describe, supremely dangerous.

“Rumble rumble rumble!”

From his body, countless corpse-forms flew out — all of them energy constructs, yet extraordinarily powerful, with no shortage of divine and demonic bodies among them, bearing within them the laws of those beings.

“Boom!”

A violent great collision sent Ye Fan’s three great disciples retreating. All of them wore solemn expressions — the opponent before them was strange, with fragments of laws flying chaotically, embodying destruction.

Just as Ye Fan had said of him: he had nothing to do with the eternal law, but instead walked a path of bloody chaos and sin.

Ye Fan summoned back his three disciples. The three of them would not necessarily lose, but this manner of battle would do them no good — this person’s body bore countless curses, layer upon layer, liable to erupt at any moment.

He himself moved — his physical body swift as lightning. And between his fingers the divine chains danced, wreathing him as he launched fierce attacks upon the opponent.

Boom!

The two of them battled their way into the open expanse between the halls, contending in fierce combat. Very quickly, countless threads of blood-pattern were shaken out — the power of the curses erupting in full force.

The disciple of the Eternal Heavenly Venerable struck out savagely. That place was engulfed in blood-mist, and no one could see through it. From within, anguished and ghastly howls rang out in waves.

Only once did people catch a glimpse of Ye Fan flying outward — dozens upon hundreds of divine chains, entwined in blood-color and gold, woven into a pair of divine wings, carrying a supreme divine might as he dove downward.

Everyone was petrified. Had he not lost his laws and Dao? Yet he was able to draw upon the most primordial power of his physical body, manifesting this kind of technique.

Boom!

When the final great tremor rang out, all the blood-mist collapsed and dispersed. Down from the sky fell a figure — Ye Fan descending with his foot upon the body of the Eternal Heavenly Venerable’s disciple.

The ground cracked apart; stones flew in all directions. That body forged of blood and sin was trampled to ruin, as all ten of Ye Fan’s divine chains pierced completely through it.

A flash of blood-light — the Eternal Heavenly Venerable’s disciple dissolved into a rain of blood, his very bones shattered, reduced in the end to a pool of pulp. Body and spirit were annihilated together.

All present were shaken. Ye Fan had only just entered the city, and he had directly slain the disciple of the Eternal Heavenly Venerable, cutting down a figure from the age of myth, bringing with him slaughter and blood — announcing his arrival!