The Golden Celestial Maiden was extraordinary in her ferocity — she meant every word. She truly brought that foot stamping down. Her whole body blazed with light, as though forged from the gold of a Dao tribulation, the imperial blood within her simmering with the heat of boiling.
In years past, she and Ye Fan had clashed in a decisive battle — trading blows for over three thousand exchanges, displaying a valor beyond description. The sheer strength of her physical body needed no further testament.
Many years had since passed. She had undergone her tribulation and become a quasi-emperor — unlocking the imperial body’s treasury — and had grown more powerful by a magnitude impossible to measure. This was the renowned and undefeated Imperial Body Technique of her clan.
The eyes of the Golden Celestial Maiden flickered with frenzied light. She was determined to strike him down in the domain where Ye Fan was most supreme, most powerful — to crush his invincible Holy Body with a single foot.
“That hateful little wretch — this is an insult to my master. She wants to stamp my master’s body apart alive!” Huahua clenched his fists so hard his knuckles cracked, forgetting even to recite the name of Buddha.
What left Ye Fan feeling helpless was the fact that his physical body could not move freely, and his command over his law and Dao fluctuated between strong and weak — he had not yet fully broken through the prison of his flesh. And now, of all times, he happened to be at a low point, incapable of inflicting effective damage upon the enemy.
Watching that golden foot sole descend toward his face, the flames in his eyes blazed high. He clenched both fists until they cracked and groaned, straining with every fiber of his being.
If this foot landed on his face, then whether or not the tribulation was completed, it would be an indelible humiliation — nailed forever into the trajectory of his life.
Clearly, that was precisely her intention — to humiliate him like this, repayment for the grudges of years past.
Now, attempting to control the heavenly tribulation was impossible. His command over Dao and law was at its weakest — he could not fling the Golden Celestial Maiden into that phantom realm of primordial immortality.
Boom!
Within his wounded body, golden blood ignited. The crimson-red blood of dawn surged and boiled. In an instant, it erupted from his wounds and gathered into a carrier of indomitable fighting spirit.
This was a figure made of blood — born from Ye Fan’s fury and his unwillingness to yield. Composed of shards of the great Dao, it took shape as a crimson blood war-god.
“That is the original essence blood of the Holy Body!”
Many cried out in shock. And among them, no small number had their eyes blazing with intense heat, fixed hungrily upon what lay before them.
Ye Fan’s physical body — and his sea of consciousness — was something like a prison, trapping his law and Dao. But his refined blood did not accept that imprisonment — it surged free. Within it was contained the most fundamental Dao-shards of this lineage.
This power was formidable. In ordinary times, it had long since manifested across his physical body. But this was the first time it had been separated out and brought together on its own to launch an attack.
“The most fundamental essence blood of the Holy Body — red as dawn, truly beautiful. Is this not the legendary human body great medicine? How convenient — it has delivered itself to my door.” The Golden Celestial Maiden laughed. But no matter how one looked at it, that laugh was cold — especially those gold-colored eyes, which had grown bone-chillingly frigid to the extreme.
That blood-figure, alongside the Holy Body’s fundamental shards, carried a terrifying fighting spirit, sealed within it. Crimson hair flew wild. With a single roar it charged the enemy.
“Hmm — the original essence of the Holy Body — that truly is a human body great medicine, an incredible windfall.” In the shadows, many eyes burned with hot greed.
But the fighting spirit that this blood-figure displayed was devastatingly fearsome — it shook heaven and earth. One sweeping leg launched the Golden Celestial Maiden airborne, sending her stumbling back.
Yet the blood-figure also dimmed somewhat — for this was not Ye Fan’s true body. It was a pure instinct, lacking divine consciousness to guide it, lacking the capacity for adaptive change.
“Cauldron, come!”
Within Ye Fan’s shattered body, his vital essence and spirit were nearly drained dry. He let out a single Dao cry — the Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron descended and plunged into the blood-figure.
Within the cauldron dwelt a deity who could act as a surrogate for his will and direct the blood-figure — merging with it as one, going forth to face the Golden Celestial Maiden.
Boom!
This was an explosion!
Heaven and earth shattered. With his Dao and law suppressed, the fundamental shards within Ye Fan’s crimson blood emerged, fighting in his stead.
This kind of power was in itself the ultimate expression of the physical body — and now that it had been stripped out and brought together, it was a manifestation of something terrifying. It sent the Golden Celestial Maiden’s face draining white, blood seeping from her mouth.
As for that blood-figure — and the cauldron at his brow — outsiders could see nothing of their true state, for the figure was made entirely of blood.
Boom!
Fist intent without equal. Battle spirit surging like a flood. Ye Fan’s blood war-god fought with full force, shattering the sky, beating the Golden Celestial Maiden into retreat — blood dripping ceaselessly from the corners of her mouth.
“Terrible. Ye Fan is in the middle of his tribulation. If the original essence remains separated from his body for too long, both his body and divine consciousness are in danger of being ground away by the chains of divine order!” The Black Emperor said.
The inside of Ye Fan’s body was hollow and wrecked — only fragments of refined blood essence remained, now sustained entirely by the force of his divine consciousness. One wrong move and body and spirit would both be annihilated.
“Master!” Huahua’s eyes flooded red.
“Damn it all, my quasi-emperor tribulation should be coming by now — why hasn’t it appeared yet? If it had, I would have stomped these cowardly vermin flat!” Pang Bo raged.
“Ha ha ha…!” The Golden Celestial Maiden laughed with wild abandon. She knew: the blood war-god was ferocious and powerful, but it could not endure for long. The moment Ye Fan’s divine consciousness and body were destroyed, everything he was would dissolve into nothing.
“Tremble. Let the Holy Body pay in blood for its sins. To be stamped out in the moment of transformation — I believe this is the most fitting response to you!” The Golden Celestial Maiden said, her voice cold as winter iron. Her physical combat was at a disadvantage, so she began to employ a fearsome secret technique.
The dark cosmos was torn apart. One after another, silhouettes emerged — like a succession of great suns suddenly blazing into light, divine radiance flooding all things.
These were ancient deities, one after another — clad in golden armor, each one a sun-deity in being — their light illuminating the dark cosmos as they came forth to fight.
“That is… the Descent of All Gods!”
Every onlooker stirred. To think the Golden Celestial Maiden had refined this secret technique to completion — truly worthy of being called a child of an ancient sovereign. It was said this was not a technique achievable through talent and bloodline alone — it was deeply mysterious, requiring the opening of a specific ritual ceremony.
Without question, this technique was extraordinarily powerful. The sky was dense with golden silhouettes in every direction. All of them opened their mouths and together intoned a single divine word: “Kill!”
They struck in unison. Golden Dao symbols — dense as a curtain — spread as though alive, then transformed into a golden wave of ocean water that struck the sky, and with a boom launched the blood-figure flying.
“Did you think it would end there?”
After the blood war-god was driven back, it did not scatter — instead, it suddenly blazed with intensified radiance and deliberately evaded. For at this moment, Ye Fan’s command over his law and Dao had surged to another peak — he could draw upon this power once more.
The blood reversed its course and returned, flowing back into Ye Fan’s body. His entire frame erupted in a blaze of law and Dao-light. Every secret technique burst free — and at the same time, he seized command of the tribulation lightning.
Rumble!
The Golden Celestial Maiden was also shaken into that phantom Immortal Domain realm, forced to face the immortal beasts within — nearly driven to her own tribulation. She rained golden light down as she fell.
Every spectator was left gaping in disbelief. They had thought this was a sure thing — and yet Ye Fan had endured once more and turned the tables. He had survived another ordeal — and his body was still bound!
The Golden Celestial Maiden and Shen Ming were both now within that phantom Immortal Domain realm. And that realm had become a terrible place — they were in deep trouble.
“Enough.”
Having witnessed all of this, the Dragon Maiden’s hair floated as a pair of crystalline dragon horns gleamed with a soaring light. She held the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell in hand and was about to step into the sea of lightning.
Every onlooker’s heart pounded. Powerful cultivators fell back at top speed. Was this a joke? Walking into the sea of lightning holding an imperial-grade weapon — only a child of an ancient sovereign would have the audacity, because one misstep, one moment of letting that ancient implement undergo its own tribulation within this place, and not a single person here would survive.
“Do all of you fear my brother so deeply that none of you have even the courage to face him in a direct confrontation?” The Holy Prince roared. With one staff-strike he nearly brought the divine tiger to death, then moved to block the Dragon Maiden’s path.
“Just now I had no killing intent. Out of regard for our shared heritage as descendants of primordial imperial blood, I preferred not to make things ugly. Do not force my hand.” The Dragon Maiden said.
She had every right to say this. In her hand was an unblemished imperial-grade divine weapon. Who could match that? The monkey’s immortal iron staff had already been broken in two — it certainly could not stop her.
“Monkey — catch the Azure Lotus!”
Suddenly the Black Emperor appeared. An array platform flickered. It tossed to the Holy Prince a stalk of azure lotus — then vanished from the spot.
This was Ye Fan’s Chaos Azure Lotus. During the tribulation, he had not dared keep it on his person — with good reason. This was no longer the same as before. Now that it had taken on a form of its own, if the Azure Emperor had truly awakened within it during the tribulation, the cosmos might well be destroyed beyond imagining.
The Dragon Maiden saw this and let out a cold laugh — then stepped forward into the sea of lightning.
“Fine — we’ll all undergo the tribulation together!” The Holy Prince roared, a single staff blow sending the divine tiger reeling, abandoning this quasi-emperor who was already certain to lose and whose life was nearly spent.
He followed into the sea of lightning. Sure enough, the Azure Lotus immediately began to tremble — swallowing the power of the tribulation with wild abandon, and in an instant grew more than a foot in height.
The hearts of everyone present lurched. The Azure Lotus was brimming with vibrant life and luster — more crystalline and translucent, more vivid and fresh in its verdant green.
The one thing that brought relief was that after absorbing the power of the lightning sea, it did not undergo its own tribulation. It remained a lotus.
“Die!” After entering, the Dragon Maiden activated the Ten Thousand Dragon Bell and struck directly at Ye Fan to destroy him. She had not come for a fair fight — her purpose was simple: to kill this enemy.
“Back off!”
The Holy Prince erupted in fury. One hand holding the Azure Lotus, the other holding the black immortal iron staff, he blocked her path — refusing to let her harm Ye Fan at his weakest, in the midst of his tribulation.
The Dragon Maiden laughed coldly. The enemy’s Azure Lotus was only capable of passive defense — it held no offensive power. The true imperial-grade divine weapon was in her hand, and the initiative belonged entirely to her.
Not only did she block the attacks of the Azure Lotus and the broken iron staff — she also tore open the phantom Immortal Domain realm and released the other two children of ancient sovereigns from within.
Shen Ming raged in fury. The Golden Celestial Maiden roared, her voice shattering the heavens. Both lunged toward Ye Fan — while the Dragon Maiden held off the monkey.
“Ah — OPEN FOR ME!”
A heaven-collapsing sound rang out. Ye Fan’s entire body ignited with blazing fire. The chains of divine law that the heavens had bound around him — and the remnant sovereign imprints entangled within his body — had already been riddled with cracks throughout. Now, at last, they reached a breaking point.
Crack!
Something within Ye Fan’s body shattered — a sound more terrifying than a thunderbolt. And immediately after, a beam of immortal radiance pierced through the cosmos — splitting heaven and earth asunder.
Boom! The four poles of heaven and earth shuddered. Ye Fan let out an earth-shaking roar — like a flood-dragon bursting free of its prison — leaping upward into the air, shattering the chains of divine order that had bound him, sending them crumbling apart.
“He’s done it!”
“The tribulation is complete!”
Cries of shock rang out. In the midst of ten thousand hardships, Ye Fan had broken through. He had shattered every shackle and obstacle, taking the most important step of his life.
“You disturbed my tribulation — did you think that was enough to kill me? All of you… are not enough!”
Ye Fan rose like a dragon soaring through the nine heavens. With a great boom, his entire body blazed in radiance ten thousand zhang long. His law and Dao surged like a flood — and his physical body had grown more powerful still.
He activated the Word-of-Motion technique. Time itself seemed to congeal. Every spectator stared in stunned disbelief. Ye Fan’s body expanded. One foot he raised and brought crashing down toward the Golden Celestial Maiden — descending like a mountain.
Boom!
There was simply no way to evade it. Far too fast. Within ten thousand zhang of golden radiance, Ye Fan’s great foot descended. The Golden Celestial Maiden was forced to meet it head-on — both arms thrust upward, striking toward the sky.
But this foot carried a force that crushed her laws into powder, wrapped in overwhelming radiance pressing down upon her. She was buried beneath it.
People trembled. Gazing from a distance, one could see Ye Fan’s great foot descend — the Golden Celestial Maiden bearing it with everything she had, both hands holding up the sky, barely managing to keep that foot from crushing her completely.
As for Ye Fan’s fist — it had long since blasted toward Shen Ming. The Heaven Emperor’s Fist, without equal in the world, pulverizing the void, smashing down to annihilate. Shen Ming roared in fury — but he was pressed directly downward.
Gazing from afar, that figure — like a divine demon given form — stood with one foot upon the Golden Celestial Maiden, one fist forcing Shen Ming to his knees — proud, supreme, unrivaled. The posture of absolute dominion shook the hearts of every last person who witnessed it.