Ye Fan’s heart lurched. Gu Li Tian had simultaneously multiplied his physical strength and combat power several times over from his already formidable base — the sense of danger he now radiated was extreme.

“In the past half year, five cultivators of the Four Extremes Secret Realm have been torn to pieces by me. That you have forced me to use the ‘Dragon-Serpent Transformation’ physical divine technique — even in death, you can die with pride!”

Now that Gu Li Tian had transformed into a human-shaped purple dragon-serpent, a bestial quality had overtaken him, rendering him ferocious beyond measure. “I can smell the scent of the Desolate Holy Blood. Rather than kill you, I should keep you alive and imprison you forever — extracting your holy blood daily to temper my body!”

“Those words are far too premature!” Ye Fan was fearless. He unleashed the Mountain-Embracing Seal directly.

A great mountain loomed across the sky — an oppressive shadow blotting out the sun, casting a vast darkness over the land, bearing down with incomparable crushing force.

Gu Li Tian sneered. He was immensely powerful and did not dodge at all. His right hand transformed into a purple dragon-serpent claw, swiping upward to meet it.

With a crack, the purple dragon-serpent claw plunged directly into the black mountain’s body — and tore it apart. The dark mountain shattered into massive fragments flying in every direction.

He had split the mountain bare-handed, dissolving the Mountain-Embracing Seal, turning it into a storm of energy that swept in all directions like dark clouds rolling across the sky.

Ye Fan’s brows furrowed. His opponent’s physical body had indeed become incomprehensibly powerful — now genuinely capable of contending with him.

“The scent of holy blood intoxicates me…” After transforming into a human-shaped dragon-serpent, Gu Li Tian was more terrifying than an ordinary dragon-serpent, having combined the best qualities of both man and serpent.

His one weakness was that the bestial side of his nature had grown markedly stronger — to the point where it was nearly drowning out his humanity.

“To so willingly degrade yourself — the human body holds infinite mysteries yet to be explored. Instead of seeking that, you choose to make yourself into this half-human, half-beast aberration. Today, I will show you what it means to have a peerless physical body.”

Ye Fan let out a great shout, turning into a golden bolt of lightning that launched forward. Even with his opponent’s power surging, he was utterly unafraid.

His golden fists trailed arcs of lightning — invincible, unstoppable — punching the void ahead into a collapsing tunnel as he shot forward, reaching his opponent in an instant.

With a resonant hum, the void rippled like a canvas seized and shaken violently by a giant hand. This was a sight that defied imagination.

Ye Fan’s physical might was simply overwhelming — nothing could stop him. He was on the verge of shattering the constraints of the void, breaking free from the cage of heaven and earth.

With a crack, golden fist met dragon-serpent claw — and between the two of them, the world erupted in blinding light, gold and purple blazing into the sky.

It was like the primordial Taiji giving birth to the two polarities, and then those two polarities colliding — two volcanoes erupting simultaneously — the sky turning brilliant gold and misty purple, an explosion of dazzling spectacle.

Upon the earth, there was only silence, followed by obliteration. A massive crater appeared, both forms of energy reducing the red earth to flying ash, erasing a great stretch of it entirely.

With a roar, Gu Li Tian charged out of the purple haze, now fully feral — twin legs stamping like a dragon’s whipping tail, lunging to kill Ye Fan, savage light glinting in his eyes.

Ye Fan shook his head, saying coldly: “You’ve lost yourself. Even if you’ve gained great power, what does it matter? What makes you different from a wild beast?”

With a dull thud, Ye Fan was simple and direct — a single swing of his golden fist, hammered into his opponent’s claws with a metallic clang.

With a sharp crack, all ten claw-nails shattered one by one and fell away. Gu Li Tian cried out — all ten fingers bleeding. Even in his half-man, half-dragon form, which appeared capable of matching Ye Fan, his physical body ultimately could not hold — the searing pain caused his bestial side to ebb slightly, his consciousness regaining a faint clarity.

“Is the Desolate Holy Body truly this terrifying?!” He spat out a mouthful of purple blood, then the energy throughout his body surged — purple radiance wrapping around him like blazing flames, dazzling to behold.

Ye Fan stood in the void like a divine sovereign, golden radiance pouring off him in waves, even his jet-black hair taking on a golden luster, step by step advancing toward his opponent.

Gu Li Tian unleashed a secret technique to increase his physical strength and combat power. His expression grew more ferocious — dragon scales covering his face in a terrifying display.

“Dragon-Serpent Nine Transformations!”

He roared the words, bones shifting and cracking without pause, a bone-chilling aura spreading through the air. His body contorted — bending like a dragon’s spine, coiling like a serpent’s body — then with a flash shot forward.

Murderous intent — towering, heaven-shaking murderous intent!

Purple light blazed to the heavens, his body warped beyond recognition, yet even more powerful than before — the Dragon-Serpent Nine Transformations carrying him nearly to the form of a true dragon-man.

Dragon-Serpent Nine Transformations — shed the serpent, become the dragon!

Gu Li Tian surged forward, twin purple hands slamming out, making the void shudder, dust and smoke erupting from the ground, everything unstable — purple mist surging.

With a resonant hum, Ye Fan met force with force, strength with strength — a golden palm slammed out, a single hand shattering heaven.

Boom. Boom. Boom…

After more than ten consecutive great collisions, Ye Fan stood immovable in the sky, wreathed in golden light, while Gu Li Tian was coughing blood repeatedly, falling back further and further.

“Why — I can clearly feel I should be able to suppress you — yet why do I keep coming out worse?” Gu Li Tian could not understand. Purple blood had stained half his body red.

“You are burning through your latent potential. Once is sustainable. Twice as well. But on the third, your strength wanes — in my eyes, you are already running dry!” Ye Fan pressed forward to finish the fight — he had no wish to give his opponent more opportunities.

“Dragon-Serpent Nine Transformations — shed the serpent, become the dragon — transform into the dragon among men!” Gu Li Tian roared and threw several more purple inner elixirs into his mouth at once.

Dragon-Serpent Elixirs — supremely yang and ferocious — crackling purple lightning shot from his entire body, turning him into a figure of explosive violence, as though some ancient and terrible beast had been resurrected.

He hunched his body, four limbs contorted, crawling like a reptile — terrifying and monstrous, even his eyes having turned purple.

“The scent of holy blood — if I obtain your blood, I will grow even more powerful…” His savage nature was fully exposed. He had almost lost himself entirely.

Ye Fan stood like a divine being — divine radiance swirling around him, left hand forming the Sun Seal, right hand forming the Moon Seal — two great discs the size of millstones rumbling as they ground across the sky, pushed forward by his hands.

To push the sun and moon forward — it was truly as though a Divine Sovereign had descended to earth, looking down upon all living things, boundless in power.

Sun and moon shone together, beneath his hands blazing with ten thousand rays of light — impossible to look at directly, suffused with a vast and sacred aura.

“You have burned through your potential — you are running empty!” Ye Fan’s voice resonated with power and authority.

With a crash, Gu Li Tian charged like a wild beast — ferocious and unbridled — yet what awaited him was only a blazing sun, its sacred light cascading down, slamming into him.

Gu Li Tian was launched through the air like a ragdoll, a stream of purple blood flowers scattering in his wake. Shocked and furious, he roared.

In a flash, he coiled his body and shot back like an arrow — striking again. This time, what awaited him was a bright moon that smashed into him, sending him tumbling from the sky, spitting purple blood.

“It’s time to end this!” Ye Fan pursued him down. He unleashed the Mountain-Embracing Seal — yet this time it was entirely different from before. The black mountain peak rested between his fingertips, more vivid and real than ever.

Gu Li Tian roared, purple light blazing in his eyes as he clawed toward the dark mountain, intending to tear it apart as before — but this time he could not so much as budge it.

With a thunderous crash, Ye Fan brought the black mountain peak down upon him, shaking all in every direction — heaven and earth trembling together.

Gu Li Tian cried out. His dragon-serpent body cracked like a porcelain shell — the sound of cracking unceasing — dragon scales shedding rapidly, blood pouring freely.

With a precise thrust, Ye Fan extended two fingers, divine light flashing, and with a light slash took Gu Li Tian’s head. He then struck the headless corpse with the Mountain-Embracing Seal, reducing it to ash.

He descended to the ground. Beside the head, on a red rock, he carved a single character — the character “Ye” — and said: “Yao Guang’s ten greatest young experts have come out together, all to kill me. You are the first I have struck down.”

Ye Fan left only that one character. He was confident anyone would understand its meaning — one character, ten lives. The Northern Domain would surely be set into great upheaval.

“Ten great experts — I will meet each of you in turn.” Ye Fan turned, the God-Punishing Whip on his back, and walked deeper into the red earth.

In this battle, Ye Fan had not used the “All” secret among the Nine Secrets, had not summoned his cauldron — he had relied entirely on raw force against raw force, strength against strength.

He wanted to use this as a test of his cultivation — battling Yao Guang’s ten great experts was the finest whetstone available, using these opponents to sharpen his blade.

At noon, Ye Fan encountered the second enemy. A great battle followed, ending in his death.

Before sunset, he encountered the third — a cultivator at the fifth level of the Dao Palace, yet one whose combat power rivaled a Four Extremes expert. Extraordinary power, and yet Ye Fan still struck him down.

The earth was stained with blood. Beside that third head, Ye Fan carved a third character — the character “Ye.”

The dying sun was the color of blood, merging with the red earth in an especially grim and vivid spectacle.

One could easily imagine that within a few days, the Northern Domain would be shaken — three of the ten disciples trained by Yao Guang’s reclusive elders had already been struck down by him.

The wind rose. A great gale swept across the desolate Gobi, sending mournful howling sounds through the air.

Ye Fan suddenly turned back. Right behind him, three figures were approaching into the wind — no words, no warning — they moved straight to the kill.

His heart lurched. One of them was at the fifth level of the Dao Palace — but the other two were both at the first level of the Four Extremes Secret Realm!

With a resonant hum, a great golden gourd blazed with golden divine light in the sky, pressing down toward him — its power comparable to a golden mountain peak.

Ye Fan dodged, evading the golden gourd.

Then suddenly, a premonition of danger rose in his heart. He swiftly summoned his cauldron, suspending it above his head, releasing ten thousand streams of Myriad Things Primal Energy to shield his body.

With a ringing clang, at almost the same instant, an object struck just in front of him — a world-shattering blow that sent both him and the cauldron flying over a hundred zhang.

Ye Fan was deeply startled. If not for his keen spiritual senses warning him and allowing him to protect himself with the cauldron in time, he would have taken a direct hit — and that would have been a strike of terrifyingly divine power.

He looked quickly and saw a silver ring of steel hovering in the air — gleaming — it was this object that had struck him.

Before him, three people stood side by side. One had a golden gourd floating above his head, another a five-colored feather fan, and the one in the center had a silver steel ring.

Three young men, appearing to be around twenty-one or twenty-two, all martial and imposing — sharp and exceptional, with outstanding bearing.

“The Myriad Things Primal Energy is indeed remarkable — even my Diamond Ring failed to penetrate it.” The one in the center spoke.

Ye Fan was instantly startled. He had already been puzzled before, and now grew even more alarmed — that silver steel ring was actually called the Diamond Ring!

On the other side of the starry sky, legend spoke of a Diamond Ring of unparalleled power, capable of ensnaring all under heaven — could it have been brought to this world as well?

Ye Fan drew the God-Punishing Whip from his back, holding it in hand, and stood in opposition to the three of them.