One arrow slaying a Forbidden Zone’s young master — what a brutal result!
Beyond horror, what else could everyone feel? This was not the first time Ye Fan had killed one of the supreme bloodlines. Was this the sixth? Or the how-many-th?
A terrifying record. A blood-soaked path. A glorious past. The road beneath Ye Fan’s feet was one that made people tremble just looking at it, and many could only look up at him from far below.
Ye Fan held the long bow in his hand — jet-black throughout, yet flowing with a metallic luster and texture. It had been forged from a divine root that had grown in the Sea of Reincarnation, and the Dao of a supreme being had once been carved upon it.
Now, in full view of everyone, Ye Fan directly refined it — for the phantom spirit of the Reincarnation Lord had been consumed by the Green Lotus, allowing him to re-consecrate the bow as a great killing weapon in his hands.
He picked up several golden arrows. Together with the ones the cauldron had collected earlier, he now had twelve in total — every one radiant and brilliant, sharply intimidating.
Everyone changed expression. The single arrow he had just used to slay the descendant of the Reincarnation Lord had left a deep impression on each of them. This was undoubtedly a domineering offensive force — anyone the arrow was aimed at would change color with fear.
Whoosh!
Ye Fan suddenly drew the bow, firing toward the depths of a chaotic mountain. There, two figures shot upward, shattering many of the condensed star fragments as they rose. One figure was blurred and indistinct; the other was An Pu.
Clang! — An Pu held a great black halberd in his hand and struck the golden arrow, sending a shower of sparks flying as his entire body shuddered. A flash of blood erupted — the arrow’s unparalleled edge, after passing by the side of his great halberd, grazed his arm, leaving it dripping with blood.
In truth it was not quite a graze. It was a shockwave of killing intent that had torn through his body, causing the blood to flow.
Ye Fan stood unmoved, standing atop a mountain like a demon sovereign looking down upon the world. He drew the bow and nocked the arrow once more — eleven golden arrows remained for him to fire.
Whoosh!
That blurred figure vanished, disappearing into the darkness without a trace. An Pu darted away and burrowed into the mountain below, tearing open the void to conceal himself within.
Boom!
Yet in the next instant, Ye Fan’s second arrow was far more terrifying and awesome. The arrow flew forth like a great golden mountain crashing down — nothing like an arrow at all. It crushed through the long sky above, broke open the chaotic mountain, and forced An Pu out of hiding.
“Brother Ye, originally I had no desire to fight you — yet it seems you insist on starting now,” An Pu said, no longer fleeing. After dodging that arrow he stood in the void.
He possessed a kind of sickly beauty. His complexion was still as pale as ever — as though he had been denied sunlight for years — giving him a frail, ailing look. Yet this was a distinctive bearing unlike the powerful, domineering quality of the other ancient emperors’ sons.
Ye Fan looked at him, something stirring in his heart. This was a remarkable person. At his wedding, An Pu had stopped Shen Ming — that had counted as something of a favor.
But between them, a battle was inevitable. The Desolate Mountain intended to destroy the Ji Family and to kill him; they were destined to be mortal enemies for this lifetime.
“We cannot avoid this fight!” These were Ye Fan’s only four words.
“I seem not to be your match right now,” An Pu said with a sigh, speaking plainly. From the mouth of the child of a Forbidden Zone’s master, such words carried tremendous weight, the effect entirely different.
Outside, the crowd stirred. This was the frank admission of someone with a supremely powerful bloodline. Such a confession caused the battle spirit emanating from Ye Fan’s body to appear many times more fearsome in an instant.
Truly worthy of being called the slayer of ancient emperors’ children — and now it was publicly acknowledged.
The cauldron above Ye Fan’s head rose and fell. Not the slightest ripple moved in his eyes. He thought of words An Pu had spoken years before — declaring that when the path to immortality opened, the greatest upheaval in history would begin.
In that era, few had been able to grasp the meaning of those words. Yet they had been verified one by one in the time that followed.
He slowly drew the bowstring, setting a third arrow in place. His expression was cold and indifferent as he looked toward An Pu.
An Pu — pale of complexion, drained of color — lifted his head and said, “This battle has come at last.”
An Pu understood. Between the two of them, life and death must be decided. Almost every Forbidden Zone of Life was Ye Fan’s enemy, and so long as he had the strength to do so, he would kill until none remained — there was no avoiding it.
However, he genuinely was not yet prepared. How to contend with the Human Sacred Body was no longer a problem for one person alone — it was a problem that had troubled the bloodlines of multiple supreme beings.
Whoosh!
Ye Fan fired the third arrow. Golden light erupted like a thunderclap, splitting the void. There was no point in crossing entire star domains — it had already locked on to its target.
An Pu let out a long howl. Though he appeared somewhat sickly, when the great black halberd in his hand began to dance it split heaven and cleaved the earth, rending the chaos, its terror overflowing boundlessly.
The sound of clanging rang without pause as the great halberd and the arrow struck each other repeatedly, deflecting one arrow — and the halberd slid to one side, its luster dimming.
However, when the fourth arrow was fired, An Pu’s expression changed. The great halberd in his hand trembled violently, struck with a devastating force. That arrow was imbued with all the essence of the Sacred Body — its terror was boundless.
Even someone as powerful as An Pu felt his arm go numb, his tiger’s mouth bleeding. His eyes blazed with divine light, and instead of retreating he pressed forward, charging toward Ye Fan.
“Young master, go — you are not his match right now. He is in a special state, standing at the absolute summit of the forbidden realm, the same as the old master was when he was young!”
In that moment, a blurred figure appeared, stepping in front of An Pu and urging him to fall back quickly, intending to take his place and face Ye Fan.
Boom!
Ye Fan’s fourth arrow fired. The place erupted — all the vital energy of heaven and earth seemed to be sucked dry. The blurred figure roared, but even so it could not change much.
An Pu charged forward, great halberd crashing again and again in repeated collisions — yet one of his lower legs was pierced through. With a sharp pop, it exploded apart in the sky.
“Young master, go!” The blurred figure rapidly materialized, dissolving its concealment — and it turned out to be a headless knight, enormous in build.
“It is that one!”
Many people drew a sharp breath in recognition.
Back then, when this death knight had emerged into the world, it had been earth-shaking in its grandeur. It was a servant of the Stone Emperor, and had once dominated all the heroes of the world from within the Desolate Mountain, shaking the world of the living.
When the immortal path shattered, destroying the dreams of many, the headless knight had survived, concealing itself within the Desolate Mountain. Now it had actually emerged once more.
“Good. You have survived. Today comes the reckoning!”
Ye Fan said in a cold voice. In the ancient times, this figure had been tremendously famous. The Stone Emperor had stirred up far too many upheavals in the past, and it had led campaigns, killing on a massive scale — deeply formidable.
Hmmm!
The headless knight swept both arms. A chaotic rift appeared within — An Pu was swept into it, even Ye Fan’s arrow unable to collapse that escape route.
The headless knight had drawn upon the most fearsome power and laws at its disposal across its entire lifetime, carving out a path for its young master, enabling him to set foot on the road home and escape from this place.
An Pu’s pale lips parted and closed again. In the end he said nothing, and vanished into that chaotic rift.
Ye Fan walked forward, step by step. No trace of anger showed on his face — cold, detached, and serene. Killing one more person or one fewer made no difference to him.
What mattered most was that he had locked on to An Pu, already leaving a trace of his energy within An Pu’s body. No matter where An Pu went hereafter, Ye Fan could pursue and kill him.
“The headless knight who once looked down upon all the world…” he murmured. At a different height, the enemies one faced naturally differed.
In those former days, when this being had emerged from the Desolate Mountain — who could have stood against it? Who would have dared to challenge its edge? Even a single servant of a supreme being was already a Quasi-Emperor.
Now everything had changed. Ye Fan already commanded a view from high above, looking down upon the world. Few remained who could contend with him — and a battle began.
The death knight from the Desolate Mountain was actually stronger than An Pu was now, enduring Ye Fan’s arrows through sheer force. But in the end it was still no match.
When the twelfth arrow was fired, it let out a furious roar. The lower half of its body was shot apart and exploded — shards of stone scattered, flesh and blood flying. It howled with its divine sense in a state of frenzy, and attempted its old trick again — but the chaotic rift, when deployed a second time, was useless. Ye Fan had seen it once and would never allow it to succeed again.
A supreme law fixed that space — the chaos would not open!
Hmmm! — the Cauldron of All Things’ Qi rose into the air and came down in suppression. The powerful figure finally could not hold on — it dissolved directly into a scatter of ash, leaving behind a faint impression seared into the cauldron wall, barely managing to become a blurry image of a living creature.
Who in this world could stop Ye Fan’s advance? That was the question in every person’s heart.
Yet Ye Fan himself remained very calm. That aged sigh seemed to still echo at his ear. What had happened just moments ago could not have been an illusion — there was a truly extraordinary figure here.
He walked with steady steps toward the monkey. Kun Tian the Divine General was still there, showing no fear at his approach.
“Hmm. The child of my lord was forced to his death like that by you people, without the chance to grow. A shame beyond measure. There is nothing left to say — two lives for one life.”
His figure finally became clear — clad in black xuanjin armor, standing there like a demon god. Rune after rune flowed and surged around him, carrying the imposing might of an emperor.
He knew full well that Ye Fan was not easily provoked. He knew the monkey held half a celestial iron staff. And still he did not retreat — intending to strike against both of them — which chilled many hearts.
But at this moment, some understood — he held in his hands a supreme battle formation diagram!
That… surely couldn’t be something the Undying Celestial Emperor left behind?
“In that battle long ago — is the Celestial Empress still not resigned? Still wishing to preside over this place? But I have not yet died. Shall we fight another battle?” Suddenly, in the high heavens, an aged voice rang out.
“You old thing — you are truly not dead!” Kun Tian the Divine General spoke in a grim tone, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth. His xuanjin armor flowed with dark light.
He flung out several dozen great banners with a shake of his hand, carrying an ancient emperor’s imposing aura that shook the entire area.
Suddenly, a blade came slashing down from the sky. Cold light shook ten thousand ages — and with a single stroke, it cut through every banner before they could fully take form!
This single slash shook both ancient times and the present. The snow-white blade light left everyone dumbstruck. Even Great Sages trembled, nearly falling to their knees, their weaker bodies shaking like sifted grain.
Whoosh!
In the void, a burst of phoenix blood erupted. A passage flashed open and vanished, sweeping Kun Tian the Divine General into it — and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
A single slash destroyed the formation, and forced Kun Tian the Divine General — who had once followed the Undying Celestial Emperor — to flee. Some suspected the Celestial Empress’s divine abilities had aided his escape. This display of might silenced everyone present.
Clang…
The leisurely toll of a bell echoed across ten thousand ages. The chaotic mist dispersed. Every mountain and peak began to move, while all manner of lightning and radiance withdrew.
In the sky appeared a vast and magnificent celestial palace — immense and solemn, grand and magnificent — and it stirred a sense of familiarity in some of the onlookers.
“The Ancient Heavenly Court!”
“Those are the palace halls of the Heavenly Court!”
Many cried out in shock.
“Amid all this chaos and disorder — when will it end? I wish to pacify the eight wildernesses, set right the cosmos, and put an end to all this bloodshed.” From the central Heavenly Emperor’s Palace, an aged voice came — filled with absolute authority.