Shen Ming was vicious to the bone. The moment he struck, ten thousand Daos sang in unison — ten fingers gleaming like crystal, firing ten thousand bolts of celestial sword radiance!

These sword energies were unlike any other. Each one bore its own life. Behind each one stood an ancient beast radiating immortal light, clenching the sword radiance in its jaws — terrifying beyond measure, slamming down with absolute force.

Everyone’s face changed. This was an ancient technique from the Age of Myth — the Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword!

“Lost for ages — to think it appears again in this mortal world.”

“Heaven above — what a powerful inheritance. I had thought it was sealed away in the depths of time forever. Today it sees the light of day once more!”

From a distance, cries of astonishment rang out. People were utterly stunned. The secret techniques Shen Ming cultivated were indeed terrifying — and this opening move was already so world-defying.

Ye Fan’s face changed. His body was bound by the chains of divine order — he was like an insect in a web, his movements severely restricted. He let out a Dao cry from his lips. The Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron began to spin, its mouth flashing with chaotic light, pressing down toward Shen Ming.

Unable to move his body, he could only use his divine consciousness to control the cauldron and resist the great enemy.

Clang!

Sparks flew like cascading silver falls. Ten thousand celestial swords slashed in all directions. The Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron bore the enormous pressure, shaking violently and without cease.

“What a remarkable cauldron — not yet fully consummated, and already so formidable. Among quasi-emperor weapons, it is exceedingly rare.” Shen Ming spoke with admiration. But his expression was ice-cold, and his eyes were chilling to the bone.

Shen Ming uttered a soft command. The dark gold war garb on his body shimmered with luminous brilliance — crystalline and radiant — yet his energy became like a primordial beast from before the dawn of time. His body darkened. But the war garb formed a divine ring around him, blazing brilliantly.

The Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword shuddered. Beasts roared to shake heaven. Every supreme bloodline from the Age of Myth manifested — one after another revealing their ferocious true forms, clenching immortal swords between their jaws as they came charging.

Trampling through the void, a host of beasts surged forward. Heaven and earth collapsed. The energy radiating from this was so staggering that every spectator could not help but tremble.

Shen Ming’s methods were heaven-defying. With the Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword unfurled — how many beneath heaven could withstand its edge? Even another quasi-emperor would drink bitterly from this encounter.

Clang, clang, clang…!

Sword energy pierced through the cosmos, slashing down in waves. The Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron was like a paper boat caught in a raging tempest — seeming as if it might fall apart at any moment and be destroyed. It swelled to a hundred thousand zhang in height, shielding Ye Fan below, resisting every onslaught. Runes across its surface flickered, grinding away these attacks.

At the same time, from the cauldron’s mouth descended torrents of mother qi — like a cascade of waterfalls — transforming into divine radiance to contest the sword energy. Supreme. Divine.

Blocked!

The Dao-patterns on the Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron awakened, grinding away the assault of the sword energy. Its defensive power was remarkable enough to make the eyes of many onlookers burn with envy. This treasure deserved to be tended and nurtured with care and blood-refinement.

Shen Ming’s body grew dim — but his war garb blazed ever more brilliantly, as though a black hole had been surrounded by dozens upon dozens of suns. He grew increasingly powerful. He muttered softly beneath his lips — reciting an ancient incantation.

Heaven and earth convulsed. Even the lightning seemed momentarily halted. The sun, moon, and stars deep within the universe froze — space and time locked in place.

The sword energy had been shattered — but the ten thousand beasts did not stop their advance. If anything, they became increasingly real, charging madly forward, striking upon the Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron with full force. These were formed from the great Dao runes themselves — and they came bearing down.

Boom!

Ye Fan fought with his life. Light flashed at his brow. The cauldron surged with life — it had a vitality of its own. The myriad ancient spirits on its surface awakened, one by one stepping forth from the cauldron wall.

Vermillion birds trailed immortal flames, crossing three thousand worlds to fight. Chaos deities split heaven and earth, howling as they charged into the nine skies above. The Peng spread its wings, and countless great stars in the cosmos shattered…

The myriad spirits on the cauldron’s walls had come alive — stepping out to confront the ten thousand beasts. Both sides collided in a massive, violent clash. Dragon chants and tiger roars rang across this place; the great Peng soared to the heavens; divine radiance pierced through eternity.

“Such power!”

Every onlooker drew in a sharp breath. Shen Ming’s combat techniques were extraordinary enough — but Ye Fan, now bound and trapped, still had such means at his command. It defied everyone’s expectations.

Shen Ming’s expression turned frigid. His opponent was bound in chains of divine order — meat upon a chopping board — yet still resisted so tenaciously, and truly blocked his attacks. That was a deeply unsatisfactory outcome for him.

Suddenly, the Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron sank and rapidly shrank — to the size of a fist. Though true dragons soared and immortal phoenixes spread their wings — the various totems continued to surge heavenward — they retreated to before Ye Fan’s brow, guarding the bone at his forehead.

“Shen Ming is about to succeed!” Many eyes lit up with gleaming intensity.

Shen Ming advanced like a god commanding ten thousand beasts, driving all manner of primordial creatures down upon his enemy. Every beast rang out like a sword — clang, clang, clang — humming ceaselessly.

“This is bad!” The Black Emperor’s face fell.

The forbidden domain of the Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword had been revealed. Every ancient beast was a sword in itself — without any sword-form, they roared, and that roar was equivalent to a sword cleaving through heaven.

Infinite sword intent transformed into great Dao runes acting directly upon Ye Fan’s body and Primordial Spirit. This kind of thing could not be blocked — it permeated everywhere, leaving no gap untouched.

This peerless sword intent was not a physical weapon that could be stopped by any tangible implement. A single thought — and it reached all six directions and eight wastes.

One could see the body of Ye Fan, bound in chains of divine order, shuddering — tens of thousands of symbols lighting up all across him. These were the killing intent of the Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword — delivered through the unified roar of ten thousand beasts, acting upon him directly.

“Ye Fan!” Li Heishui’s face blazed with shock and fury.

“Master!” Huahua’s face turned white as bone, every trace of his usual smirk gone — replaced by naked terror.

“The Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword is too powerful!” The Black Emperor’s expression was dark and grave.

All of this had unfolded too swiftly to stop.

This was a quasi-emperor unleashing a forbidden secret technique of a forbidden-zone master. Such a strike, landing upon a bound Ye Fan, left him no room to adapt or resist. The outcome was predictable.

Hum!

Amid the battle, the Holy Prince’s fiery golden eyes blazed. In his hand, the half-length immortal iron staff flared with dark radiance and swept out at a diagonal angle, aimed at Shen Ming — seeking to interrupt all of this.

But at this moment, the divine tiger went mad. Its body — a fusion of stone and flesh — erupted with blinding light. Tiger markings covered it like ripples. The stone implement above its head shone with undying immortal radiance and launched an attack upon the Holy Prince.

At the same moment, from the shadows, another figure moved. A purple true dragon dove downward, intercepting the dark gold iron staff — opening its jaws wide to swallow it whole.

The Dragon Maiden had acted. Her eyes were bone-chillingly cold — sharp as arrows in the moment they opened and closed. She blocked the Holy Prince’s attempt at rescue, intent on witnessing Shen Ming slay Ye Fan.

“Become my cauldron. It is not such a bad choice. You will share in my immortality — together we will conquer the Immortal Domain. Sooner or later, I will lord over all.” Shen Ming said, his voice cold as a shadow, step by step advancing forward, reaching out a hand to point toward Ye Fan’s brow — intent on slaying his Primordial Spirit, leaving only this powerful flesh behind.

The Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron shuddered. With a great boom, Shen Ming let out a cry of shock — he had been sent flying. He had failed to dislodge the cauldron from its position guarding the bone at Ye Fan’s forehead.

How? His expression changed to one of bewilderment.

This much was clear — Ye Fan had been struck by the Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword’s killing intent. With ten thousand beasts roaring in unison, tens of thousands of Dao symbols had lit across his body — he was enduring the agony of having his divine form obliterated.

And yet — how could he still counterattack? Bound by the law-chains, with his resistance effectively gone, the sword intent should have destroyed him.

“I am not as helpless as you imagine.” Ye Fan said coldly.

Not merely unhelpless — impossibly powerful. Even Shen Ming was left stunned. Ye Fan had actually been borrowing his strength — deliberately allowing the Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron to retreat, waiting for the Ten Thousand Beast Immortal Sword’s killing intent to reach his body.

Now, tens of thousands of Dao symbols had all transformed into flames — tempering his body, at war with the sovereign remnant traces within him.

Using an enemy’s power to forge oneself? How many would dare attempt it? And this was a quasi-emperor-level battle — one misjudgment meant the annihilation of body and spirit.

Moreover, Ye Fan was not operating from a position of equality. He was bound and trapped — and still he dared to do this. His ferocity was simply beyond all comprehension.

Shen Ming’s expression became glacial. He did not like the feeling of things exceeding his control. By his manner of doing things, everything should be within his grasp at all times.

Roar! Shen Ming opened his mouth and exhaled — black flames flooded the sky. A black demon furnace appeared, swiftly expanding, moving directly to take Ye Fan inside and refine him completely.

Rumble!

But at this moment, an immense and overwhelming pressure descended — beyond his ability to counter. The severed tribulation resonance returned. Even the secret treasure on his body could not stop it.

This was a vast and magnificent world, as though the Immortal Domain and the mortal realm had been threaded together and connected — filled within with all manner of auspicious beasts, primordial scenes that could overawe the soul.

Hum, boom! Shen Ming, together with his black demon furnace, was drawn into this world — likely to face his own tribulation within it.

No one had anticipated this. Ye Fan had not merely withstood the heavenly tribulation — he had taken command of it, using this phantom Immortal Domain realm to trap his enemy.

Clearly, Shen Ming would not be emerging in the near term. He had fallen into a dangerous predicament resembling the onset of his own tribulation — assailed by the immortal beasts within, he was in serious difficulty.

This sudden reversal surpassed everyone’s predictions. They had all believed Ye Fan was at the end of his rope — and yet, in an instant, everything had flipped. The powerful and divine had been trapped.

Slash!

A golden radiance split through the lightning. A woman with a full head of gold-colored hair flowing in the wind appeared, cutting straight into the sea of lightning, charging toward Ye Fan, launching a killing strike from the very first instant.

Her eyes carried a murderous gleam. Golden flames danced and roared across her entire body. This was the Golden Celestial Maiden — and the moment she struck, she unleashed the Golden Divine Treasury, a swarm of Dao weapons and divine instruments flying in all directions, golden radiance blazing so intensely it was difficult to look directly at it.

Now there was no talk of fairness. She had not come for a decisive battle — she had come to kill. Her purpose was to prevent Ye Fan from completing his tribulation, to take his life while he was at his most vulnerable.

Everyone’s heart trembled. This was the third quasi-emperor — two of them children of ancient sovereigns, terrifyingly powerful. Ye Fan was undergoing tribulation and faced disaster upon disaster. Being exposed like this, too many would seek to obstruct him, unwilling to let him succeed.

Clang!

Blazing light erupted at Ye Fan’s brow. He used the Word-of-Soldier technique to take control of the golden divine instruments — sending the golden weapons that were about to descend upon his body reversing course, turning back to strike the Golden Celestial Maiden.

But clearly she understood him well enough. In an instant, every weapon became empty and vanished. In their place, at the original positions, blazed one round of resplendent suns after another, detonating all at once.

Pfft!

Even a body as powerful as Ye Fan’s — unable to move, forced to sustain the strikes passively — erupted into sprays of blood. He was nearly pulverized by that explosive force.

“How vicious!” People exclaimed in amazement.

Those golden divine instruments had all been forged from her own Dao runes — to self-detonate like this had caused even her to grunt in pain, blood seeping from the corners of her lips. And all of this was simply to swiftly destroy Ye Fan before any further changes could occur.

Ye Fan’s body was transparent from front to back. Had he not been held together by the chains of divine order, he would likely have split apart into fragments. Blood fell heavily in all directions.

“Holy Body Ye Fan — today is the day of your death. The blood of my clanspeople, and the grudges between us — today, all accounts are settled!” The Golden Celestial Maiden said in a voice like frozen iron.

“Do you dare wait until my brother completes his tribulation and face him then?” The Holy Prince roared. Every golden hair on his body blazed with light, rage erupting without limit.

But it was no use. He could not break free — pinned on one side by the divine tiger wielding the stone implement, pinned on the other by the Dragon Maiden and her Ten Thousand Dragon Bell, his path to rescue completely cut off.

“Ha ha ha…!” The Golden Celestial Maiden laughed with abandon. Her full head of hair flew wild as she struck with lethal precision. “Still want to become a quasi-emperor? Keep dreaming. I will not give him that chance — with one foot I will crush his chance to emerge from the cocoon!”