Yu Mo wanted to cry out, yet no sound could escape his lips; his body was completely frozen, and he could only scream within the depths of his heart.
The onlookers knew nothing of this. All they saw was Ye Fan being struck in the chest by Yu Mo’s palm, and a wave of sorrow washed over them all. Had the glorious era of the Holy Body truly passed? In just a single exchange, he had been struck down like this — it carried the desolate sorrow of a hero in his twilight years.
“What a pity. That battle three hundred years ago destroyed a man of unparalleled genius. He had once shone with ten thousand brilliance, his future promising a rivalry with the Great Emperors of antiquity, the power to conquer the Supremes of the Forbidden Zones of Life — and yet he has fallen to this. The days of his commanding dominance over the world are gone, never to return.”
Many were sighing. It was a conclusion that left people feeling helpless and bitter — a man who should have been invincible in his era had, in the end, grown so aged and sluggish. How cruel time was, to have cut away so much.
The people who had come from the Spiritual Court all wore cold, indifferent smiles. They were delighted by this sight. Yu Mo had, the moment he arrived, landed a palm on Ye Fan — the Holy Body who had once held an entire age in awe — humiliating him profoundly. Even without killing him, toppling him from his divine pedestal was now merely a matter of time.
The crowd’s feelings were complicated. Ye Fan had fallen too quickly — in a single move. Many were furious and wanted to charge forward to his aid, unable to bear watching him be subjected to such humiliation.
“Are the people of the Spiritual Court not going too far? After that palm landed, why must you still humiliate him like this, refusing to lift your hand! “
Someone with a fiery temper could endure no more and shouted aloud, striding forward with great steps, intent on intervening.
Over these three hundred years, the rise of a new generation had inevitably produced many heroes and powerful cultivators, and no small number of them had grown up listening to the legends of Ye Fan — naturally, they held deep reverence for him.
In just an instant, dozens upon dozens of people moved to act. The Divine Punishment City was absolutely not lacking in powerful experts. It was a land under no jurisdiction, yet it was extraordinarily prosperous, and Great Sages frequently came here to exchange divine treasures and ancient scriptures.
“Spiritual Court, you go too far! Have you forgotten what the Holy Body did in those years past? Three hundred years have passed, and the mere fact that he survived was already no small feat. You refuse to acknowledge what he accomplished, and now you humiliate him on top of that — it is too much!”
The few who stood at the front had blazing tempers. Among them, one wielded a great axe, cleaving open the void and charging forward to attack.
The Spiritual Court immediately stepped out a line of people in response. Among them, a middle-aged man wielding a war spear cut across the path forward. He was also a Grand Commander of the Spiritual Court, and his name was Yu Lan. A sneer played at the corners of his mouth. “What are all of you intending to do? This battle was entered into with Ye Fan the Holy Body’s own consent. Furthermore, Yu Mo made it clear beforehand — if Brother Ye cannot hold on or is unable to endure, he need only say the word, and the battle will stop immediately.”
Every face in the crowd changed drastically. Those words were utterly infuriating — not a shred of sincerity or respect within them. That expression made people want to give him a thorough beating on the spot.
The group surged forward at once, various treasured artifacts flying, attacking together — yet the people on the other side were all extraordinarily powerful. They were the Spiritual Court’s commanders who ruled over entire domains, supreme and ancestral figures who surpassed those charging at them.
Amid the sound of weapons shattering, the first group to rush forward were all driven back, and the few at the forefront coughed up mouthfuls of blood, suffering grievous wounds that nearly struck at the roots of their lives.
“You go too far, humiliating Ye Fan the Holy Body like this — can your consciences bear it?! Since you are so powerful, where were you when he fought the Supremes of the Forbidden Zones three hundred years ago? Why did you not step forward to fight then? And now, in his old age when his body has weakened, you dare to leap out — are you not ashamed of yourselves?!” Many cried out in anger.
“That is not quite fair to say. This is merely a normal exchange of pointers — Grand Commander Yu Mo would not take his life. And besides, are all of you not being a little excessive? Yes, Brother Ye made some contributions in those years past, but that is no reason to elevate him to a divine pedestal like this. That is not respect — it is harming him. We simply wish for everyone to clearly understand that he… is only a person. Nothing more.”
From the opposing side, the Grand Commander named Yu Lan stepped forward with a faint smile on his face, cutting across the path of everyone present.
Yourou, the adopted daughter of the Spiritual Court’s master, possessed a face of pure, otherworldly beauty. In this moment, her expression was calm and she said nothing — yet her very failure to stop any of this was itself a statement.
“Wait — something is wrong!”
The oldest of the Spiritual Court’s Grand Commanders finally sensed that something was amiss. Yu Mo’s palm had been pressed against Ye Fan’s chest for far too long. Even if the intent was deliberate humiliation, it should not have lasted this long.
And at this point, some others in the crowd had also begun to notice that something was off. Yu Mo’s expression was very strange — having begun with a sneer and mockery, it had now turned ghastly pale, the shift so abrupt it seemed as if he had seen a ghost.
Then, without warning, Yu Mo — the Spiritual Court’s youngest Grand Commander and a man of extraordinary genius — coughed up a mouthful of blood. His body shook violently, then began to sway. Everyone heard the sound of bones cracking, and he crumpled to the ground like a heap of mud.
“Yu Mo!”
“Grand Commander!”
The people of the Spiritual Court cried out in alarm, all of them changing color at once. It had happened so suddenly. Yu Mo had clearly struck Ye Fan with his palm — so how, in the end, was he the one who had fallen?
The group rushed forward rapidly, and several of the Great Sages in particular brought forth their treasured artifacts. So many weapons launched a simultaneous attack against Ye Fan, striking with lethal intent.
Around them, many in the crowd were seething. The Spiritual Court’s people had just blocked everyone from interfering in the two men’s duel — and now they themselves were directly joining in. Truly a double standard.
“With this sovereign present, do you not think you are going too far?” The Black Emperor intoned coldly, sending a Dao diagram flying outward, which cast a dense haze over that stretch of void, displaying its immense power.
Yet it thought better of it, and did not intervene — a strange glint appearing in its eyes.
“Yu Mo, what happened to you?” those people shouted.
Yu Mo’s body went soft and he sank to nearly a half-kneel, filled with bitter unwillingness yet unable to control his own body. He crumpled there, and this posture was unbearably humiliating to him. A moment ago he had been arrogant, eyes surveying all directions, gazing with contempt upon the powerful cultivators across all heavens — and now, in the blink of an eye, he was prostrate at Ye Fan’s feet.
“I… it seems I was defeated by myself. My own fragments of the Great Dao have pierced through me.” He spoke with great difficulty.
Waves of treasured artifacts came flying over, falling upon Ye Fan — and he finally made his move. His palm and fingers gleamed like crystal as he struck each weapon down in turn, one by one, the sounds of cracking reverberating without end.
No one understood what had happened. Ye Fan’s palms and fingers collided with those weapons, and the Dao-inscribed patterns within them surged outward, every one of them plunging into his body, causing him to shudder violently.
And yet — every one of those weapons cracked apart!
Yu Mo was pale as death, prostrate at Ye Fan’s feet like a man before a supreme king. He felt deeply humiliated. The bold words had already left his lips, and now he was reduced to this posture — he wanted nothing more than to smash his own head against the ground and be done with it.
The third strongest among the young generation over the past three hundred years — though that ranking was only the Spiritual Court’s public claim regarding its own people, it was still more than enough to speak to his divine talent and unparalleled aptitude for cultivation. What a pity it was that even his genius-enshrouded form could only kneel before the weakened Holy Body.
Everyone was dumbstruck. A moment ago they had been worried for Ye Fan, sighing over his twilight years, feeling the chill of his desolation — and now they were witnessing this scene. Many who had been petrified burst out in great, resounding cheers.
“Kill him!”
Grand Commander Yu Lan led more than a dozen of the most formidable experts surging forward — not daring to attack with their physical bodies, and ignoring the cracked weapons lying about — instead directly bringing forth various Dao arts and hammering them against Ye Fan.
Divine light blotted out the sky, Dao arts soared through the heavens, and then something astonishing occurred: Ye Fan’s body trembled slightly under the assault, yet he remained standing, unyielding. He did not strike back. His expression was cold as he swept his gaze across everyone present.
This shocked people to their cores!
“My Great Dao fragments!”
Grand Commander Yu Lan cried out in alarm. He felt his entire body hollow out in an instant, as though he had been transformed into a mortal and was plummeting from the ninth heaven down into the depths of hell.
The others also went deathly pale — even more so than he was — unable to speak a single word. They felt an incomprehensible emptiness. All the Dao cultivation they possessed along with their spiritual energy had been drained completely, leaving behind only empty shells.
This was a kind of stripping away — fragments of the Dao arts had entered the bodies of those who attacked.
From within Ye Fan’s body came several faint sounds of cracking. The ferocious attacks of multiple Great Sages had brought their Great Dao fragments flooding inward, tempering his flesh and blood. His body was like a vast furnace, and the Great Dao fragments of his enemies were the fire — extracting and refining his own arts and Dao.
At the same time, the foundational imprints of these individuals’ Dao principles left a trace here, swept over by his spirit and mind.
For ten years now, he had been comprehending the Dao — observing the great movements of heaven and earth, experiencing the force of time’s blade, viewing himself as a bronze furnace of heaven and earth, smelting all arts and Dao, tempering himself, nourishing a hundred scriptures and ten thousand methods within the furnace.
His arts and his Dao had never disappeared. They had always been there, and his cultivation had even been growing — only sealed within his own flesh and blood, unable to be drawn upon.
He needed a process of rebirth through fire — just as the phoenix must bathe in flames to be reborn, he needed to bathe in ten thousand Daos, borrowing the power of a hundred scriptures to forge himself and bring about his own new life.
Three hundred years ago, Ye Fan had fought tooth and nail against the Supremes of the Forbidden Zones of Life, suffering an ordeal that could affect him for the rest of his life. His entire person was indeed half-crippled — without some extraordinary turn of events, he would be able to advance no further for the rest of his days.
Such a severe suppression was equivalent to placing upon him chains of order that were nearly impossible to break. And yet, every matter has two sides. Viewed from another angle, this was not without its value as a form of tempering and opportunity. The harder the suppression, the more violent the rebound — once he broke free from the cage, he might rise like a dragon returned to the heavens, his single roar making thirty heavens tremble!
These three hundred years had not been wasted. In the process of reforging his physical body, he had wandered in a daze — yet his flesh and blood had been locked in constant battle against the imprints of the Supreme’s laws, like a celestial sword honed for three hundred years until its edge reached the absolute extreme. That was why, without any cultivation, his physical body had grown ever more terrifying — it had been forged through this battle against the remaining Dao-traces of the Supreme.
Moreover, though he had been unconscious, his subconscious had never truly slept. It had always been in a special state. Within his mind, there were several great enemies: the Master of Reincarnation, the Supreme of Light and Darkness, the Stone Emperor, the Master of the Divine Ruins, and the Heaven-Forsaken Supreme.
More than three hundred years ago, he had stood face to face with these individuals and crossed blades with them. During the process of his flesh and blood being reforged, his subconscious had been locked in constant opposition with these figures, running endless deductions. The scenes of that battle had played back again and again — not only his own clashes with his enemies, but the decisive battles of the Void Emperor, the Eternal Universe Emperor, and the Supremes as well.
It could be said that this was the most precious wealth in the world of cultivation. For ten years he had comprehended the Dao and studied methods, wandering through the mortal world, and together with Ji Ziyue he had visited every famous mountain and great river, awakening his latent potential. The revival of over three hundred years of subconscious experience had been perceived by him, driving him to near-madness in his Dao comprehension — nearly dissolving into the Dao itself.
The depth of his understanding was beyond anything else in the world. No clash in existence could compare to the great battle against the Supremes, and he had lived through that experience. It was misfortune, and it was fortune — having encountered this ordeal of life and death, he had effectively died once, and then fought through incredible difficulty to survive. If he could fully integrate all of it, it would surpass the gains of even countless great battles soaked in blood and wind.
The echoes of the Supreme battle, along with those laws and orderly Dao-inscriptions, still left traces within him. His foundation was even now still at war with those things — this was also one of the primary reasons he had lost his own Great Dao fragments.
There was too much within him, but he no longer needed to concern himself with tallying it all. What was needed now was to tread beneath his feet all Dao and all arts, to place himself above all things.
Now, he was a bronze furnace of heaven and earth — he needed the fire of ten thousand Daos to be tempered within the Dao furnace of his body, in the hope of achieving the phoenix’s rebirth and reforging himself anew.
The self as furnace, drawing in the fire of ten thousand Dao sources, forging flesh and blood, honing the primordial spirit — and this was only the beginning.
“Ah…”
Yu Lan cried out in alarm, yet he could not change reality. His Great Dao fragments had, inexplicably, rushed into the other man’s body. He had no idea what had happened — and a moment later they came surging back.
“Crack!”
These dozen or so individuals all shuddered violently, every one of them suffering broken bones and snapped tendons, their primordial spirits shattered, sustaining grievous injuries.
Without exception, they all crumpled to the ground, prostrate at Ye Fan’s feet like heaps of mud, unable to move.
This scene was staggering. Within Divine Punishment City, whether those on Ye Fan’s side, those of the Spiritual Court, or the neutral observers — every single one of them turned to stone.
The Grand Commanders of the Spiritual Court, who commanded entire domains — among Great Sages they were the most supremely powerful, striding through the world with supreme arrogance — and yet before Ye Fan the Holy Body, long said to be half-crippled, they were so utterly helpless!
The people who had been strutting about with such pompous arrogance moments ago were now on their knees, one after another, struggling to rise. Every one of them was drenched in sweat, their bodies convulsing and trembling.
“What has happened — is Ye Fan the Holy Body about to rise again?!”
“His body still has no fluctuation of the Great Dao — he cannot even draw upon his orderly divine chains anymore — yet why was just now so strange? What art and Dao was that?”
“I seem to see the Holy Body once again returning to his peak — the brilliant new starting point of his rise that will illuminate the universe is about to begin!”
Many murmured in low voices. The cultivators who leaned toward Ye Fan’s side were all galvanized, each face breaking into expressions of excitement and boundless anticipation as their fists clenched involuntarily.
The powerful figures of the Spiritual Court, on the other hand, wore expressions turning green. That row of people prostrate at Ye Fan’s feet before them was too piercing to look at — among them were their commanders, their protectors, now kneeling there in utter humiliation.
“Hah. In this day and age, those who have true ability are humble and don’t make a sound, while those who have nothing strut around and make noise all day long. What are you staring at — I’m talking about you lot. Stop glaring — if you truly had ability, you wouldn’t be kneeling here.” The Black Emperor’s tongue was, as always, devastatingly sharp, and it was naturally not about to let this opportunity pass.
“You…”
The brilliant genius Yu Mo’s face went crimson, blood nearly surging to the surface. Yu Lan and the others were nearly driven to madness. Everything they had experienced today was a humiliation without equal.
“Are you not all so formidable — each commanding an ocean of stars? How did it come to this, with all of you kneeling here?” The Black Emperor continued its assault, raking mercilessly over their wounds. “Trash is trash. Three hundred years ago, when the Supremes of the Forbidden Zones of Life were a threat, you were cowards — every last one of you fled, not daring to show yourselves. Three hundred years later, seeing someone who actually fought a Supreme barely scrape through and survive, you all act like you’ve been given some stimulant and come rushing forward, one after another. What — did you think defeating a Holy Body whose power has rusted away would make your names echo across the universe? I spit on that. A bunch of trash, and still defeated — you will never be worthy of the grand stage!”
Within Divine Punishment City, many in the crowd followed along, making a ruckus, crying out in great satisfaction. The Black Emperor had thoroughly berated these people, making them feel they had entirely deserved it, drawing not a shred of sympathy.
The Spiritual Court’s people wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground and disappear into it. The situation was stronger than them — their predicament was entirely of their own making.
At this moment, certain regions within Ye Fan’s body lit up, like feeble candleflames swaying and casting the hope of light in the darkness. That portion of flesh and blood shone resplendently and with crystal clarity, radiating brilliance and beginning to bloom.
“Battle!”
Someone from the Spiritual Court bellowed a command, ordering the boundless armies in outer space to advance — preparing to launch a doomsday catastrophe upon this place.
Ye Fan stood atop the Crimson Raven, soaring straight upward into the sky. He needed ten thousand kinds of Dao fire, to be nourished within the Dao furnace of his body, tempering his flesh and blood and his primordial spirit, reforging himself anew!