The cauldron enlarged to a foot in height and came crashing down. The Ji Family renowned cultivator had no way to evade — it was as though he had walked straight into it himself.

Boom!

Just how heavy was a cauldron refined from the primal energy of all things — it was difficult to truly gauge. Formidable as the Ji Family’s renowned cultivator was, having cultivated to the third secret realm, even he could not bear the weight. His right shoulder collapsed on the spot.

Splat!

He spat out a mouthful of blood, and like a scarecrow struck by a massive hammer of ten thousand catties, he was sent flying, crashing into a stone pillar more than ten meters tall.

“Grand-uncle!” The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator’s face was written over with terror. Staring at the body lying not far away, he could scarcely bring himself to believe it, his voice trembling. “It’s you…”

Ye Fan gave no response. The second strike came — the cauldron carried no radiance, but it was vast and imposing, and when it bore down, even the ground below began to tremble.

This time, the Ji Family’s renowned cultivator was already prepared. He turned into a streak of light and shot out, dodging the blow.

“You little brat — you’re still alive?!” The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator’s face bore both rage and shock. No matter how he tried, he could not have imagined encountering Ye Fan in the sixth layer of the fire domain.

More than half a year had already passed. No one believed he could have survived. Everyone assumed he had long since been reduced to ash and dust — without the faintest hope of having survived.

“I’m vigorous and full of life — how could I possibly die? Even if your entire Ji Family were wiped out, I still wouldn’t die.” While speaking, Ye Fan drove the cauldron and retreated toward the seventh layer of the fire domain.

Two strikes had failed to finish the man. He withdrew decisively — after all, the man had cultivated to the third secret realm. The depth and power of his cultivation were far beyond anything Ye Fan could match.

“You didn’t die before — today I’ll send you on your way!” The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator rose into the air and gave chase. At this moment, his right shoulder was completely deformed, collapsed and crushed into a mass of blood and flesh. Even with his vigorous life force, it was impossible to instantly regenerate a severed shoulder.

“Worry about yourself — don’t die in the fire domain.” Ye Fan’s speed was extraordinary. Having reached the Far Shore realm, with his mysterious footwork, he moved swift as a shooting star.

“Ye Fan, you little thief — you obtained my Ji Family’s Great Void Art and still think you can live in this world. What a dreamer you are.” The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator’s face turned dark, killing intent surging from him as he relentlessly pursued.

“Go back to your grandfather’s home. You repay kindness with enmity and then adopt this kind of attitude — as though you’ve suffered some great injustice…” Ye Fan gritted his teeth. “Once I have the strength, I’ll overturn your entire Ji Family. Let you truly suffer for real.”

“Even figures a hundred times more powerful than you would not dare say such words. As for you… cultivate for another thousand years and it will all come to nothing in the end.” This Ji Family elder’s face showed both grief and fury. “How did my grand-uncle die?!” A great figure of the clan had actually perished here — this was an event of the gravest magnitude.

“He couldn’t bear it — took his own knife and killed himself!” Ye Fan replied with mockery. In this adversarial situation, he had no desire to explain anything.

“How did he really die?!” After calming down somewhat, the Ji Family’s renowned cultivator felt it was completely impossible for Ye Fan to have done it. The Ji Family’s great figures were formidable beyond measure. Unless the Peacock King himself had come, how could one have been slain without a sound?

“In a moment you can go ask him yourself.”

“Boy — once I catch you, I’ll flay your sinews and skin you alive, then search your very soul.” The Ji Family elder’s entire body trembled. A great figure had died here, obscurely and without explanation — he was furious beyond measure.

The five-colored cloud-flames were ahead, their blazing heat washing over them. Ye Fan flashed and vanished, plunging in.

The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator stared with wide eyes and halted on the spot. He dared not follow. Though he wore a flame-repelling robe, it could not possibly block the fires of the seventh layer.

“You… how did you manage this?” Seeing that Ye Fan had no fear of the sixth layer’s purple qi and didn’t even fear the seventh layer’s multicolored cloud-flames, his face was filled with astonishment. For a long while he could say nothing.

“You old stick — why won’t you follow? Don’t you have a flame-repelling robe?” Ye Fan stood there speaking without the least effort on his own part, an amused smile on his face. “I challenge you — let’s have a great battle here of three hundred rounds. Do you dare?”

Hiss!

The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator showed no change in expression, then suddenly brought forth a silver spear the length of a pair of chopsticks, intending to pierce straight through and strike Ye Fan down.

Crack!

Yet the silver spear had barely flown out when it began to tremble faintly. Crack after crack appeared along its length — and then it shattered inch by inch, incinerated by the purple fire.

“Your flame-repelling robe is nothing remarkable at all. I thought it was something extraordinary.” The smile on Ye Fan’s face grew wider and wider as he slowly began to walk back toward the boundary.

“This place — called ‘Purple Qi Coming from the East’ — this fire domain truly lives up to its name…” The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator showed a look of shock.

Hiss!

He raised his left hand. His palm bloomed with a blaze of light — then a bolt of lightning struck out, charging forward.

Crack!

Though the lightning was violent, it too was absorbed by the purple fire, slowly disappearing ahead.

Witnessing this, Ye Fan felt completely at ease. He withdrew the jade purification vial, poured a mouthful into his mouth, and rapidly restored his divine power. Then he strode out of the seventh layer of the fire domain in great strides.

“I thought your flame-repelling robe was something extraordinary — but it’s nothing special after all.” He now had no concerns whatsoever. The man’s divine power, however great, was useless here — he couldn’t unleash it at all. And Ye Fan himself had a physique comparable to a divine blade, powerful divine sense, and a cauldron that feared no flame. Taken together, he had nothing to fear from this man.

The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator saw Ye Fan dare to step out, and his heart immediately stirred. The man’s boldness meant he certainly had something to rely on. Not daring to be careless, he slowly stepped backward.

“Too late, old man. It seems you can’t send me on my way after all. I, however, can let you go down and be reunited with that old relic from before!”

Ye Fan stood at a distance, not rushing forward. He brought forth the golden scripture — a radiance blazing as the fierce sun instantly tore through the purple void.

The pages inscribed with the Dao scripture were no weapon — yet they surpassed any weapon. The flames here could not incinerate them; once transformed into golden light, they were invincible and razor-sharp.

“What a powerful spirit object — are you sending me a gift?” The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator was astonished, then broke into a pleased expression. Even at his level he had never possessed a weapon of this grade, yet here was a mere youth carrying such a rare treasure.

“If you can take it, I’ll gift it to you!” Ye Fan laughed loudly.

Hiss! The golden scripture grazed just past the man’s side, nearly cutting him down. The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator said nothing, his fingers trembling as he struck repeatedly at the golden scripture, attempting to knock it down and seize it.

Ye Fan assessed silently. The man’s physique was indeed fearsome — having cultivated three secret realms, he had long since been reborn from the bones up. Yet compared to Ye Fan himself, he still fell somewhat short. Seeing this, his heart settled completely.

At this very moment, the Ji Family’s renowned cultivator gave a cold laugh. He executed the Great Void Art, turning into a wisp of black smoke that shot directly to close range, saying coldly: “Little brat — you were too full of yourself. I’ll fight you at close quarters — let’s see how you escape now!”

He was supremely confident. At this distance, Ye Fan had no way to flee. He was certain to die.

Ye Fan had brought forth the golden scripture only as a probe. He had already anticipated that the man would close in for an attack — and this was precisely the moment he had been waiting for: close-quarters combat.

He did not dodge or retreat. His golden fist met the man’s single remaining left palm directly — with force heavy and mighty, like a massive hammer of ten thousand catties crashing down.

Boom!

The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator looked as though struck by lightning, his face full of disbelief, then twisted in agony.

Crack!

He heard clearly the sound of the bones in his left hand breaking, completely deformed. His entire arm was numb. His body, like a stone hurled through the air, flew backward.

“You—” He was utterly decisive, with no hesitation whatsoever. He executed the Great Void Art, intending to flee far away.

In this moment, he felt deeply the meaning of the word “uncanny.” A mere youth, clearly far beneath him in cultivation, yet so bizarre in his ways — making him suffer one great loss after another.

Unfortunately, Ye Fan had prepared for this and gave him no opportunity. The cauldron had already been brought forth — enlarged to one meter, it came crashing down in suppression. The heavens themselves trembled faintly. The purple qi seemed to have been evaporated, leaving a true void in that space.

The Great Void Art failed!

The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator was suppressed by the cauldron above his head. His body groaned and cracked as every joint throughout him trembled. The immense pressure was beyond his capacity to bear.

Crack!

His raised left arm was the first to shatter — dissolving directly into a mist of blood. Then cracks appeared in his skull. His face turned ferocious, and in a trembling voice he asked: “What cauldron is this?”

“A cauldron refined from the primal energy source root of all things.” Ye Fan answered from not far away.

“What?” His expression shifted, and he was shaken to his core. “A single thread of dark-yellow energy can crush an entire mountain range — this much…”

A single thread of the primal energy of all things could indeed crush an entire mountain range. However, once formed into a cauldron, Ye Fan could not yet unleash that kind of power. If he had sufficient divine power, this cauldron — even without carving profound Dao patterns upon it — would be enough for him to roam unimpeded throughout the world.

Pierce the heavens, shatter the earth, evaporate great rivers — nothing beyond its reach. Alas, once the primal energy of all things became a cauldron, it returned to the primordial and became wholly contained — manifesting only as immense, immovable weight, the actual terror not yet made apparent.

Crack!

The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator could bear it no longer. More bones cracked and shattered in multiple places. His complexion turned ashen. A cauldron refined from the primal energy source root of all things was simply too terrifying.

Ye Fan was not comfortable either. The cauldron was like a bottomless pit, continuously drawing on his divine power, difficult to satisfy — especially in this situation of suppressing such a powerful cultivator, the divine power required was even more vast.

In just a brief moment, he had already drunk five mouthfuls of divine spring — otherwise he likely could not have held on.

“Old man — get on your way!”

Ye Fan gritted his teeth, simultaneously channeling his divine power while stepping through the void. His heavy footsteps seemed to make the very fabric of space collapse.

Boom!

He finally reached close range. His right leg swung in a horizontal sweep — one mighty kick. The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator immediately spat a huge mouthful of blood, his chest caved in, and he was sent flying.

Rumble!

The one-meter cauldron slowly bore down in suppression. The Ji Family’s renowned cultivator no longer had the strength to resist. His entire body ruptured and was instantly ground to dust.

In the end, nothing at all remained. The tiny bit of blood-mist that lingered was instantly evaporated by the purple flames. The flame-repelling robe was reduced to ash with nothing left behind.

Ye Fan’s fondness for this cauldron grew even deeper. Ancient and unadorned, its power was supreme. Once a cultivator of three secret realms was suppressed by it, even they suffered greatly.

Its only flaw: it consumed divine power at an enormous rate, truly beyond what one could easily endure. And moreover, it could not be revealed to others. If people were to learn that this cauldron was cast from the primal energy source root of all things, it would cause a tremendous uproar.

Ye Fan very much wanted to stay in the sixth layer of the fire domain, wait for Ji Hui to come investigate, and slay her — yet he did not act impulsively. What he needed to do now was to lie low for the moment.

A Ji Family great figure had been slain by Crow Daoist. This would inevitably bring a raging storm. The fire domain would certainly know no peace. He had to withdraw first.

The Peacock King had killed a Ji Family Supreme Elder, provoking the Ji Family’s Holy Lord and Yao Guang’s Holy Lord to join hands and push deep into the Perched Crimson Mountain Range. Now another great figure had fallen — this storm would likely be even greater.

With two great figures lost in succession, the Ji Family had to assert its dominance. Otherwise, what face would they have left?

Ye Fan quietly withdrew from another direction, leaving the fire domain, waiting in silence for the great storm to come.

And indeed, on that very day, the Ji Family’s Holy Lord led a host of powerful cultivators and arrived in person.

Savage beasts howled, treading the heavens as they came with a thunderous din, their roars shaking the sky. Outside the fire domain there were people everywhere — iron cavalry everywhere — as the entire fire domain was thrown into utter turmoil.