Snow-white petals, like funeral flowers scattered across a graveyard, each streaked with traces of blood, drifted and swirled down the entire length of the ancient street.

Black petals represented death — mist-shrouded, radiating an aura of annihilation — dancing between heaven and earth, chilling every soul that beheld them.

The simultaneous emergence of two great ancient assassin divine dynasties sent shockwaves through everyone present, setting every nerve on edge. The various holy lords in particular could not remain calm, for their own forebears had taken part in the campaign to destroy the divine dynasties.

In those ancient days, the three great divine dynasties had reigned supreme over all under heaven. For an extraordinarily long span of years, they had silenced every ancient legacy in the Eastern Wastelands, leaving none daring to provoke their wrath.

For once you incurred their enmity, a peerless figure would inevitably be assassinated — a burden no sacred ground could bear, a price no holy land could afford to pay.

The three ancient divine dynasties had been as formidable as they were terrifying. Even the ancient saints of old had not been beyond their reach — targeted for assassination, and successfully slain. Who in the world would not fear them?

That had been a dark age, truly worthy of being called a man-made calamity. The ancient divine dynasties had lorded over all under heaven, looking down upon the Eastern Wastelands, pressing every sacred ground beneath unprecedented strain.

Petals swirled along the great street, each tinged with fresh blood. Invisible killing intent coiled through the air. The legendary kill order, spoken of through the ages, had manifested in the mortal world — and from the beginning of time until now, not a single person had ever escaped it.

“I wonder what their strength is like now. Before the Primordial Age, once a kill order was issued, not a single person had ever managed to escape their fate!” the Great Black Dog muttered.

Many people turned to look at Ye Fan, their expressions shifting with strange light. The ancient assassin divine dynasties carried an unbroken myth of invincibility — every kill order they had ever issued remained, to this day, without exception.

“The two dynasties withdrew for countless ages, and now they emerge making such a grand display. They must have accumulated more than sufficient power.” The Wind Clan’s holy lord furrowed his brow.

There were things he left unsaid. The opposing parties dared to issue a kill order at this moment, clearly issuing a provocation to the present-age saints, most likely to establish their dominance and intimidate the world.

If this was truly the case, the matter was gravely serious — proof that the foundations of the two assassin dynasties had swelled to a degree that inspired extreme terror.

“Could it be that they have restored the glory of their former peak?!” Yao Guang’s holy lord also knitted her brow.

In ages past, within the ancient halls of the mortal realm, the skulls of kings had been gathered almost in their entirety — not a single physique overlooked, every outstanding hero in the world hunted down and slain. None could resist their edge.

And Hell had been even more excessive. They were like a host of fallen, merciless divine beings, wielding blood-dripping divine swords to cut down every saint in the world — fearsome and dreadful beyond measure.

Within Hell were preserved the divine skins, bones, flesh, and organs of the ancient saints they had slain — a sight of blood-soaked horror, the most mysterious and terrifying of things.

“This is…” The Ji Family’s holy lord also revealed a solemn expression, saying: “If they truly recreate the glory of those former years, I fear another age of darkness and chaos will descend — a catastrophe of heavenly proportions.”

The ancient assassin divine dynasties specialized in slaughter. These people had entered the Dao through killing their entire lives, and were the ones most versed in the great arts of taking life in all the world. Even opponents of the same cultivation level could scarcely resist or guard against them.

All the major sacred grounds had participated in that world-shaking great war prior to the Primordial Age. It was not that they had not wished to uproot the Mortal Realm and Hell along with everything else — but after truly crossing blades, they had learned what terrible price that would demand.

The supreme divine dynasty — the Heavenly Court — had harbored two saints whose life essence was nearly exhausted. In their twilight years, they could not unleash their full combat power, yet even so, they had managed to take three saints of the various sacred grounds down with them — three saints in the prime of their years and strength.

The various sacred grounds had chosen their moment of attack well, striking when the ancient assassin dynasties’ elder saints were on the verge of passing into nirvana and their new saints had not quite yet been born.

And yet, they had still paid such a devastating price. Thus they had no strength remaining to annihilate the Mortal Realm and Hell, and let both withdraw with their forces intact.

Slash!

A heaven-shaking rainbow of light descended from the sky, spanning three zhang in diameter — a razor-sharp sword radiance that slashed toward Ye Fan, a brilliance that could only be called world-shaking in its keenness!

“What?! They actually made a move right in front of the saints — this is the Mortal Realm’s sacred saint-slaying sword art!”

Everyone’s complexion changed. Had the Mortal Realm truly gone mad? Or had their accumulated foundations swollen to a degree of extreme terror, leaving them unafraid even of the Mad Old Man — that peerless figure who stood above all?

This was a life-ending great art unleashed by a holy lord-level figure, capable of obliterating both the illusory and the real, leaving nothing intact, carving a trace of the Great Dao itself, as though splitting apart the barrier between the ancient age and the present.

Pop!

The Mad Old Man swept out a sleeve, blotting out sky and sun as he surged forward to meet the blow. Not only did he receive that sword radiance into his sleeve — he drew the very vault of heaven in along with it.

Boom!

The vault of heaven shattered in that instant, a massive black void appearing there. The sword radiance had been launched through a domain gate, and the powerful beings of the Mortal Realm had not dared to show themselves.

Rip!

Another sword energy came slashing down — a blood-crimson divine radiance tore through the void, stretching two thousand zhang in length, slashing toward Xiao Nannan on the Great Black Dog’s back.

Ye Fan’s eyes turned cold. The ancient assassin divine dynasties coming for him was one thing — but to include Xiao Nannan as well filled him with boundless fury.

Bang!

The Mad Old Man flicked a finger. A radiance from his fingertip pierced through heaven and earth — not only shattering the blood radiance, but punching clean through heaven and earth itself, surging toward the other end of the void.

Boom!

Suddenly, the tall and imposing saint moved both hands at once, demonstrating his divine arts before the people for the first time — yet none present could perceive clearly what it was he did.

At the tips of his fingers were elaborate Dao markings, like threads of true dragons the length of a chi each, swimming and coiling. He shook both hands with sudden force, and the vault of heaven immediately crumbled.

Rumble!

Within the Gazing-Sky City, save for a few holy lords and those sheltered under their protection, nearly every cultivator collapsed to the ground, unable to endure the pressure — a suppression that originated from the divine soul itself.

Boom!

A terrifying ripple of Dao power swept across the void in an instant, striking toward the other end of nothingness. None could comprehend how he had accomplished it.

“This… is not opening a domain gate — he is killing enemies across boundless void!”

Several holy lords were stunned, their expressions turning to shock and alarm. The Mad Old Man had not employed any great art — this was merely a secret technique he had casually drawn out.

Dong!

The vault of heaven was like a broken drum, beaten to ruin. The Dao power launched by the Mad Old Man pierced straight through the void, and from the far side came two screams of agony — then utter silence.

The saints of the present age must not be humiliated. This heaven-defying display of power was truly heart-shaking. A supreme expert had opened a domain gate to attempt an assassination, and none knew from how many li away. Yet the Mad Old Man had deduced their location and punched through with his peerless Dao power to annihilate them — such combat strength filled every last person with deep dread.

The people of the Mortal Realm and Hell appeared no more, yet not a single person could remain calm. They were shaken by the Mad Old Man’s methods, yet equally alarmed at the audacity of the two ancient assassin divine dynasties.

Today, those dynasties had announced their return to the world. In the days to come, the Eastern Wastelands would not escape a great slaughter, and many ancient legacies would surely be unable to stand by and watch.

Just now, those had been nothing more than probing strikes — yet they had dared to test the saints of the present age with open attack. This was conveying a terrifying signal.

Ye Fan burned with fury. The assassin divine dynasties had come for him time and again, and had even involved the innocent Xiao Nannan, drawing her into danger — filling him with limitless killing intent.

“It’s all right, Nannan isn’t scared…” The little one tugged at Ye Fan’s sleeve, tilting her head back to speak softly.

Her large eyes were clear as black and white, pure and unblemished. She was clearly somewhat panicked — yet she held it down and said these words, the little one looking pitifully small and forlorn.

“Mm, Nannan really doesn’t need to worry. They amount to nothing,” Ye Fan said with a smile.

At this moment, many of the cultivators within Gazing-Sky City were rising back to their feet. Save for the Mad Old Man and those sheltered by the various holy lords, nearly every other cultivator had collapsed to the ground.

This was the might of a saint. Their every action and movement could affect countless living beings between heaven and earth — they possessed supreme power beyond any reckoning.

Many people looked at Ye Fan with peculiar expressions. The two ancient assassin divine dynasties amounted to nothing? In the past, probably not a single person would have dared to say such a thing.

In those former years, a kill order from even a single dynasty alone had been something no one could escape. Now, two dynasties had simultaneously issued kill orders against him — this was nearly an inescapable death sentence.

The various holy lords repeatedly urged them to stay. The Mad Old Man, however, met this with silence, saying nothing more. No one dared speak further, and they let the group depart.

“Here — take this…” Ji Ziyue finally found her moment and, using the Great Void art to step across to Ye Fan’s side, extended a small purple jade cauldron toward him.

The Ji Family’s little moon had fair and lustrous skin, more beautiful and captivating than ever, dressed in violet robes that swayed like an immortal’s, her fine hair dancing in the breeze, her eyes limpid and ethereal. She scrunched her delicate nose with evident displeasure, gave Ye Fan a push, and said, “Put it away quickly.”

“What is this?” Ye Fan asked, and was genuinely surprised — since their parting back then, this was the first time he had stood this close to Ji Ziyue.

“This is a life-sustaining sacred medicine I quietly ‘borrowed’ from the holy lord — refined by a peerless divine king of our clan in ages past.”

“Ah…” Ye Fan was startled. She had definitely stolen it out. He felt both touched and amused at once — this daughter of heaven had actually done something like this.

“What are you smiling foolishly at? Put it away quickly.” Ji Ziyue ground her little tiger-teeth, gleaming bright, and gave him a punch. Then she turned to Xiao Nannan with a captivating smile, revealing her little dimples, her large eyes curving into crescent moons, and said: “Would you like to come with your elder sister?”

Xiao Nannan immediately ran back and threw her arms around Ye Fan’s leg, tilting her head to look at Ji Ziyue — seemingly afraid the latter would spirit her away — blinking her bright large eyes without saying a word.

“You little thing!” Ji Ziyue lightly tapped her nose, then with a flash she was gone, vanishing into the void.

“That elder sister has a treasure on her…” Xiao Nannan whispered quietly to Ye Fan.

Ye Fan immediately laughed. What could the little one know, saying something like that? Yet the Mad Old Man’s hollow eyes flashed with a glimmer of light as well, saying: “Something from the Bronze Immortal Palace.”

These words instantly sent a tremor through Ye Fan’s heart. The source root of ten thousand things that he possessed had been obtained from that very place — a burial ground of peerless experts who had dominated their age.

He had heard certain legends: that the peerless experts of the Eastern Wastelands who entered always went in without coming out, except for one occasion besides himself and Ji Ziyue when someone had successfully emerged alive, bringing out what appeared to be an immortal’s corpse, which the various sacred grounds had divided among themselves.

The Mad Old Man, being a saint of Celestial Rotating Star, would surely have seen the remains passed down. Could it be that the secret treasure on Ji Ziyue was connected to that “immortal body”?

And yet — how could Xiao Nannan have sensed it? She had actually been able to detect that Ji Ziyue was carrying a treasure. The little one was growing more and more mysterious.

Ye Fan and the others traveled northward, and no small number of people followed behind in a kind of pilgrimage — yet no one dared to step forward again, not daring to cause any disturbance.

Over the following half month, the Mortal Realm and Hell appeared in succession four times, seeking not only to kill Ye Fan but drawing Xiao Nannan into danger as well — twice the killing swords had slashed directly toward her.

With a saint traveling alongside them, they were naturally in no danger. Those assassins were not their true bodies — all were ancient strange corpses, with primordial spirit puppets taking up residence within them.

“Which ancient legacies could have moved the Mortal Realm and Hell to act?” Li Heishui pondered.

“There must be some holy sons among them — possibly including that ruthless figure Hua Yunfei, and most likely people from the Yin-Yang Sect as well. Clearly many people suspect your body has healed,” the Great Black Dog muttered.

Ye Fan rubbed his chin and said nothing. He knew that great battles connecting heaven to earth would come in the days ahead — for now, the only course was to first make himself stronger.

Afterward, they began traversing the void, doing so several times to shake off all those following them until not a trace remained.

Finally, the Black Emperor earnestly carved dao markings, preparing to head to their ultimate destination — the Sacred Cliff!

Li Heishui, seeing it being so serious, felt a headache coming on, for he had spotted the chessboard dao markings again — those left behind by the Void Emperor.

“You dead dog, put that away quickly. We have no desire to end up in the Western Desert or the Northern Plains — haven’t you already caused enough trouble for Pang Bo and Tu Fei?”

The Great Black Dog was indignant. “You just don’t trust this Emperor at all, do you?”

Xiao Nannan, in a rare show of concern, crouched down, opened her mouth with great seriousness, and said: “Little doggie, you need to be careful — you make mistakes every time. Don’t go and transport us somewhere wrong.”

The Great Black Dog’s face lost all luster. Without a word, it continued carving, reproducing the chessboard array markings. Throughout this process, the Mad Old Man stared intently at the dao markings, watching with great concentration.

Ye Fan knew that the Great Black Dog had done this on purpose, hoping to invite this saint to appraise it.

“All right — heading for the Sacred Cliff, absolutely no mistake. We’ll be there in a moment,” the Great Black Dog announced.

“Those are array markings for heading to the Western Desert…” The Mad Old Man suddenly spoke.

“Damn it all, you unreliable dead dog — are you trying to get us killed?! If we end up dropping onto Mount Sumeru and breaking the Great Thunder Sound Temple, those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will fight us to the death,” Li Heishui said furiously.

“But these are clearly the markings for heading to the Sacred Cliff…” The Great Black Dog was baffled, its eyes rolling about as it questioned the Mad Old Man.

The Mad Old Man said nothing, only pointed with a finger, altering one or two places in the array markings and correcting them.

“So the mistake was here — no wonder I sensed something slightly off,” the Great Black Dog muttered.

Slash!

A flash of radiance, and the group traversed the void, vanishing from where they stood. The array markings they left behind automatically faded and disappeared without a trace.

Long after they departed, a shadowy figure came rushing from the distant mountains — indistinct and hazy, standing in that spot for a long while before producing what seemed like a cold laugh from the depths of hell. Every bird and beast throughout that mountain range collapsed dead in that very instant.

Not long after, another person appeared at its side — an even more indistinct figure, nearly transparent, seeming as though it might dissolve into the wind at any moment. It stood gazing fixedly at the void, saying not a word, yet the killing intent it radiated caused every blade of grass and tree throughout that entire mountain range to wither and die.

Ye Fan’s group had no idea how many tens of thousands of li they had traversed, traveling from the central region of the Eastern Wastelands all the way to a place nearly at the border of the Northern Domain.

The Sacred Cliff lay at the junction between the Central Region and the Northern Domain, an especially unusual location that almost no one came near in ordinary times — a place all treated with reverential distance.

For this was a land of ill omen: the great perfect Holy Body in his final years had bathed these ancient cliffs in blood and died here in a manner no one could explain, filling every heart with dread.

One should understand — this had been a supreme existence capable of contending with the ancient great emperors on equal footing, yet it had come to such an end, becoming an eternal historical mystery that would never be unraveled.

Though the name suggested a single cliff, arriving before it revealed how vast it truly was — not a cliff at all, but a range of great mountains, majestic and immense.

The entire range was black as ink, pitch-dark, the countless ancient trees growing upon it unable to conceal its nature. More than fifty great peaks stood side by side in a tableau of magnificent grandeur.

“The supreme Holy Body of the great perfect cultivation was far too powerful. This was hewn directly from within the Deathless Mountain and used as his place of seclusion,” the Great Black Dog said with a sigh.

Ye Fan and the others could not help but be inwardly shaken. It stood to reason — the great perfect Holy Body, once unrivaled across heaven and earth, must have been overcome by some nameless existence only after his blood and vitality waned in his final years.

Otherwise, with the peerless divine might he had possessed in his prime — comparable to a great emperor — there would have been few in this world capable of removing him.

“Heroes grow old in the evening of their lives, and men are not permitted to be seen with white hair — this is the world’s greatest sorrow…” the Great Black Dog said with a sigh.

“Little Ye, you absolutely must find a stalk of the Deathless Divine Medicine to cultivate and grow, and live through two lifetimes. My grandfather used to say that even the great perfect Holy Body’s final years were not peaceful — you must never wait until your blood and vitality begin to fade…” Li Heishui spoke as well.