“Peacock King, what is the meaning of this — causing a scene at the Jade Pool Peach Blossom Banquet? Do you truly think we fear you? If you want to fight, I accept!”

Among the Holy Lands there was no shortage of hot-tempered figures. A great cultivator from Myriad Dawn immediately rose to his feet. Their Holy Master had fallen in the Ten Thousand Dragon Lair, and the powerful members of their sect had been stewing in fury for days.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let us meet on the Jade Pool life-and-death arena!” The Peacock King, though he appeared every bit a refined young man, had always been forceful and domineering — otherwise, he would never have considered trying to kill Yao Guang’s Holy Master.

“Good — arena it is! We’ll settle this once and for all!” The great cultivator on Myriad Dawn’s side was the late Holy Master’s martial brother — himself a figure no less formidable than the rest.

“Boom!”

The heavenly palace erupted. Everyone rose to their feet. A peerless demon king was about to do battle with a Holy Master-level figure — this would undeniably be the focal clash.

A grand gathering held only once every five hundred years — its influence was enormous. Nearly every time, it had seen decisive battles of this magnitude. That had long since ceased to be any kind of secret.

“Holy Master-level figures are about to battle. Truly, this journey was not made in vain!” One powerful wandering cultivator remarked in a low voice.

“A demon king emerging into the world, supreme great cultivators contending for supremacy — this time it may truly come to bloodshed and a battle that boils with intensity.” Before the grand hall, the sacred sons and sacred daughters all changed color. The strongest inheritors of the great sects were themselves stirred with agitation.

“Who knows which great figures will make their move — could this truly turn into a battle that collapses the sky and cracks the earth?” The younger generation was anything but calm, for this concerned their own sects and teachers.

“The Red Dragon Old Daoist, the Crow Daoist — these two are peerless demon lords who can walk sideways through the Eastern Desolation. Who could possibly stand against them?”

“You underestimate the Holy Lands too much. There are certainly one or two living fossils who can fight the Red Dragon Old Daoist head-on — they will surely emerge.”

Both inside and outside the heavenly palace — whether elder figures or the younger generation — all were in spirited discussion. Every heart was restless, many trembling with excitement.

The sacred sons and sacred daughters, when their gazes fell on Ye Fan, wore deeply complex expressions. At this moment, he alone of the younger generation could stand in the heavenly palace and face the elder figures as an equal — and all of this had been set in motion by him.

In the grand hall, killing intent permeated the air. This battle was beyond all possibility of being avoided. Many eyes gleamed with cold light.

They were all dominant lords of their respective regions. Once a decision had been made, it was nearly impossible to reverse. A trip to the Jade Pool’s life-and-death arena was now all but certain.

“I ask the Queen Mother of the West to preside over this battle and open the ancient arena.” One Holy Master spoke up.

The Jade Pool life-and-death arena was situated atop the clouds — said to be eternally unsinking, boundless and vast, firm and indestructible. It could support Saint-Master-level battles without any risk of catastrophic collapse.

The Queen Mother of the West sighed softly. She knew she could not stop them. The grievances between both sides had been accumulating for a very long time — this was simply the eruption provoked by circumstance. Only a battle could resolve it.

“I only ask that everyone exercise some restraint.”

“Please, Queen Mother of the West, open the arena!” A great cultivator from Purple Mansion also called out, stepping forward — clearly preparing himself for battle.

“Open the Jade Pool life-and-death arena!” The Queen Mother of the West gave the command. Her voice passed through the magnificent palace and drifted gently outward, carried through the clouds.

At the same time, everyone moved outside together. Battle-will surged like a sea. Silhouettes crowded the space; the dominant lords stood outside the heavenly gateway, each one like a divine demon, blood energy erupting from their bodies like savage dragons.

It was a remarkable sight. Above the crown of every person’s head burst a column of blood light as thick as a great mountain — like a great dragon, piercing straight through the heavens. The power of it was breathtaking.

The younger generation was universally shaken. This was the gap between them — a chasm impossible to cross, like a celestial divide. Blood energy this vigorous, like a raging sea, could swallow a million living beings whole.

“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”

Lead-colored clouds, like mountains, thick and heavy, oppressed everyone until they could barely breathe.

Dense gray clouds nearly pressing all the way down to the ground. An ancient vital presence emanated outward, accompanied by a ferocious and intense aura of killing.

The Jade Pool life-and-death arena was a vast martial stage, built from cliff stones — each one perhaps carrying its own story. Knife marks, arrow holes, mottled bloodstains covered its surface. Who could say how many peerless experts had stood here, battled until the sky cracked, and decided the boundary between life and death?

The enormous martial stage stretched as far as the eye could see. Many stone blocks were engraved with the names of powerful figures. Fissures ran everywhere — it truly resembled a remote ancient battlefield.

Though there were no bodies strewn across it, the vital presence left behind by fallen experts could never be erased. It could penetrate into a person’s very bones.

Anyone who came to this place could not help but feel something move within them — as though in one single instant they had lived through ten thousand battles, feeling the lingering presence of peerless experts long gone.

“One of the most storied martial stages in the Eastern Desolation — its reputation is truly well-deserved. I wonder which powerful figures will have their blood spilled on this field today.”

“One thousand years ago at the Jade Pool gathering — I still remember it clearly. Purple Mansion’s Lin Tianchong, the old Holy Master whose presence devoured mountains and rivers, fought his ultimate battle here, cutting down great cultivator after great cultivator, before at last his vital energy was exhausted and he passed away at this very spot.”

“I remember as well — one thousand five hundred years ago, the peerless demon king Chicanopy, in white robes purer than snow, gifted beyond all measure, stood alone against the assembled heroes. One step forward, and he could have extended his life by another age. But in the end, his body cracked apart, all effort returning to nothing, his blood soaking this ancient battlefield.”

Many of the elder figures recalled the events of the past. So many great battles had been fought here — it seemed as though it was only yesterday, as though those people and those moments had not yet faded away.

The Jade Pool arena was truly a singular place. In every Peach Blossom Banquet held once every five hundred years, there had invariably been earth-shaking confrontations of immense magnitude.

Who could say how many dazzling great figures had fallen here, leaving behind one eternal legend after another — each one leaving those who had witnessed it sighing with emotion.

The Peacock King let out a long cry. A five-colored divine light transformed his form, and he descended onto the life-and-death arena, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, sweeping his gaze over the assembled heroes: “Whoever is not satisfied — step forward!”

Those seven words could be called nothing short of supremely arrogant — overlooking the dominant lords of every direction, he was challenging the entire world.

“You need not be so arrogant. Others may fear you — but I, Ouye Tian, do not!” The younger martial brother of Myriad Dawn’s late Holy Master had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He burst forward as a streak of cyan light.

“Boom!” He attacked without preamble, without a single wasted word. Ten thousand streams of chaotic energy shot from between his fingers, evolving into a vast sea of swords.

“Clang, clang, clang…”

The ringing of swords shook the heavens. Ten thousand chaotic sword beams were of supreme sharpness. Each sword strike left behind a mark of the Great Dao — as though the heavenly law itself had descended with each blow.

“They say for a long time that Ouye Tian has refined a strand of chaotic energy — apparently that is true. No wonder he carries such confidence.”

The crowd was astonished. That refined strand of chaotic energy — once absorbed — wielded a power beyond imagination. Each sword cut through the void itself with a mark of the Great Dao.

In total, ten thousand Great Dao marks descended. Each one could destroy an ancient divine mountain. The impact penetrated into people’s very bones. Many outside the arena felt even their souls trembling.

“Terrifying — truly terrifying! He spent five hundred years in closed-door seclusion without emerging, and yet he has reached this level. A supreme powerhouse!”

People were shaken. Many cried out.

Ten thousand chaotic sword beams evolved into ten thousand threads of Great Dao marks, which then connected together, forming a true oppressive force of heavenly law!

“Boom!”

It descended, covering the sky and blotting out the earth. It would shatter every living being with form, filling every observer with terror.

Ouye Tian opened with absolute lethal force — he had no desire to exchange hundreds of thousands of blows. He unleashed his most powerful offensive sacred art from the very start, intending to destroy a peerless demon king in one stroke.

The Peacock King let out a long cry. The mountains and rivers all stirred. Were it not for the arena’s protective barrier, many outside the arena would have been shattered to pieces — none could have withstood that sonic wave.

“Boom!”

Countless stars appeared across the heavens, each one blazing more brilliantly than the sun itself, causing this ancient battlefield to nearly ignite — filled with an ocean of terrifying fluctuations.

“Stars Illuminating the Azure Sky!”

“One of the most fearsome phenomena of the ancient era!”

Many cried out in astonishment. This was one of the Peacock King’s heaven-defying techniques — he had unleashed it from the very start, intending to divide life from death with this one move, leaving himself no retreat.

“Clang, clang, clang…”

Every single star was as immense as a great mountain, filling the vast and boundless arena — colliding against ten thousand streams of chaotic sword light.

“Boom!”

The sky itself seemed to be ground to powder. That space became a zone of utter annihilation — nothing survived. The onlookers had no way to see through it.

“Crack!”

Stars extinguished in every direction, leaving only chaotic energy swirling in the aftermath. The crowd was stunned — had the Peacock King been cut down?

“Flash!”

Ouye Tian burst free, his entire body covered in blood, countless fissures running across his flesh — he had suffered inconceivable grave injuries. Like lightning and wind, he fled the ancient battlefield at top speed.

In the void, the Peacock King stood alone. He let out a great roar, and the enormous arena nearly overturned with it. The leaden clouds shattered apart.

“Ahhh…” Ouye Tian screamed. His body split apart in the void — head, limbs, and all detached and separated.

“Crack!”

He exploded in the void. He had already been at his limit, and now that single great roar finished the job — shattering him utterly, destroying him in both body and soul.

The crowd stood dazed. A great cultivator had been shaken to death by the Peacock King just like that. In the center of the arena he stood alone, black hair whipping wildly — his demonic power overwhelming the heavens.

“I have committed to protecting Ye Fan. Whoever is not satisfied — step forward!” The Peacock King’s voice thundered across the heavens. He stood with his hands behind his back.

To challenge all the assembled heroes so openly — what level of bearing was this? Scarcely anyone in the world would dare act in such a manner.

Chaos erupted outside the arena. Myriad Dawn Holy Land had lost a supreme figure — this was a major event, and it had truly shaken many people into silence.

“The Peacock King is too powerful. It is said he still has more devastating moves in reserve — countless heaven-defying techniques.”

“Li Daoqing, do you dare fight me?!” The Peacock King bellowed, calling out Yao Guang’s Holy Master.

The crowd was startled. Issuing a direct challenge like this, in such a setting — his clear intent was to slaughter a Holy Master. Everyone drew in a sharp breath.

Were these two to fight, it would undeniably shake the earth and move the heavens. Eight hundred years ago, they had fought for three full days and nights without a victor — all the world knew of it; it had shaken the Eastern Desolation.

“Why would I dare not!” In such a situation, Yao Guang’s Holy Master accepted the challenge directly — the dignity of an entire Holy Land was at stake.

“Holy Master, allow me to take down this little demon.” A raspy, aged voice rang out, blocking Yao Guang’s Holy Master Li Daoqing.

“Senior martial brother…” Yao Guang’s Holy Master Li Daoqing addressed him thus.

“Say no more. Let me handle him.” This person was ancient and decrepit, his entire body’s skin utterly slack, flesh nearly withered, hair sparse and thin. He leaned on a walking staff and shuffled slowly forward from the crowd.

“The Holy Lands truly have living fossils remaining in this world — this is Wang Zheng, senior martial brother of Yao Guang’s Holy Master. He is over three thousand years old, and he is still alive!”

“One thousand five hundred years ago, he was at the height of his powers — brilliant beyond measure. He fought here and shone with matchless light, defeating every powerful opponent he faced, then withdrew into seclusion. Now he has emerged again. A pity he is already in the twilight of his years.”

“Clearly, the oil of his lamp is nearly spent. He cannot live much longer. He has come out now to make use of his final strength.”

The moment this old man appeared, an uproar arose. Every person was taken aback, and the discussions burst forth immediately.

“Flash!”

He moved like a phantom — reaching the extreme limit of speed — and appeared without a sound in the center of the vast arena. His clouded eyes shot out two rays of vital energy, locking onto the Peacock King.