One flower, one world; one blade of grass, one paradise!
Amidst endless crystalline petals, more than three thousand divine flowers bloomed in the most resplendent glory, and at their center stood Princess Qi of the Commandery, a beauty capable of toppling cities and kingdoms. She stood there, plucking a flower with a smile, her jet-black hair flowing, her skin white as snow, her eyes full of life — a beauty so breathtaking it left one intoxicated.
Three thousand small worlds turned like spinning wheels, revolving around her as she stood proudly at their center like a female Immortal Queen, gazing down upon all living beings.
“Swish!”
With a single thought, a flower bloomed — a World Flower blossoming into a small patch of heaven and earth, surging toward Ye Fan to swallow him whole and seal him within.
In that instant, Ye Fan clearly glimpsed wisps of primordial chaos fog swirling about, as though the heavens and earth were being created anew — this was the evolution of a near-perfect small world.
A single flower blooming into an entire world — it was so magnificent, and yet so terrifying, filling one’s heart with dread. And this was merely one of three thousand!
At this moment, Ye Fan’s expression grew solemn. He unleashed the Unparalleled Holy Body and engaged with full seriousness, not daring to be even the slightest bit careless. This unparalleled sacred art was world-shaking to its core, and even he felt a sense of crisis.
“Bang!”
Ye Fan moved, transforming into a streak of drifting light and passing through, concealing his golden radiance. His palm bloomed with clear brilliance — like a massive heavenly stele — and slammed downward.
One stele to suppress a world!
“Boom!”
Towering divine power shook the heavens. The flowers bloomed in dazzling splendor, the grandeur of entire worlds reaching its most extreme expression in that one moment. Wisps of primordial chaos fog surged outward — each single strand enough to extinguish a savage dragon.
“Clang!” “Clang!”
Ye Fan cleaved through the sky with his bare hands, colliding again and again with the divine flower worlds and the chaos fog, igniting blinding flashes of light at every impact.
This was only possible because of the Holy Body. Any other person would have found it nearly impossible to endure — the force of opposing these small worlds was enough to grind away any divine weapon or sacred blade. Yet Ye Fan received every single blow.
Princess Qi of the Commandery smiled, and in that instant every petal ceased to seem beautiful by comparison. She tossed her dark hair and extended her jade arms, striking out repeatedly with an ethereal and natural grace — transcendently beautiful as an immortal, her robes dancing in the wind, carrying with them a profound resonance of the Great Dao.
“Pop!” “Pop!”
In that moment, hundreds upon thousands of divine flowers bloomed simultaneously, each evolving into its own small world. The power that erupted from this was enough to make even Ye Fan’s scalp tingle.
A sacred art that stands unrivaled in all the world — truly horrifying to the mind and spirit!
He couldn’t help but feel a surge of inward awe. The Ruthless Heavenly Emperor, supreme throughout all of antiquity, had left behind only a limited number of secret arts in the world — yet every single one of them gave him a headache.
First there had been Hua Yunfei, and now a Princess Qi of the Commandery had appeared. He had already keenly perceived it: though “Three Thousand Small Worlds” and “One Thought Blooms the Flower, Lord Over All Under Heaven” were not identical, they shared a similar divine quality.
Could it truly be that the Ruthless Great Emperor had once incarnated as the Southern Ridge Heavenly Emperor? How many sacred arts had he left behind in the Southern Ridge?
If that were so, this ancient Heavenly Emperor was truly staggering to contemplate — his or her life had been full of legend, having reigned as Emperor across the Five Great Domains. How many lifetimes had such a being lived?
Ye Fan did not believe in karma, yet now he found himself noting that his repeated encounters with everything connected to the Ruthless Great Emperor were beginning to give him a nagging feeling in his heart.
“Pop!” “Pop!”
The divine flowers bloomed again and again. Hundreds upon thousands of small worlds surrounded Ye Fan, and all the heavens shook together. Incredibly, a divine sound from these worlds resonated downward and struck Ye Fan with a violent shudder.
“This is… a divine sound from beyond the domain?!” Ye Fan was greatly startled.
He felt as though they were voices from other worlds — as if they had flown in from beyond the heavens, world after world pressing down to suppress him. All the heavens descended together; an Immortal Queen drew near the mortal dust, seeking to grind him into nothingness.
In that moment, he grew uncommonly still. It was as if he stood in a world of empty silence — letting the wild geese fly south, time pass, the heavens and earth grow ancient. He formed hand seals with both palms and struck outward in all four directions at an unwavering rhythm.
He had immersed himself in a state of Dao-enlightenment, evolving his own Dao through the Sacred Battle Art — in non-action, in stillness. Nothing in the external world could shake the root of his heart. He was the sole being in this heaven and earth.
“Puff!” “Puff!”
With each palm strike he shattered a world, reducing them to fragments of divine petals that scattered and drifted through the air.
These were not the rudimentary small worlds from before — these were near-perfected patches of small heaven and earth. Though none of them were large, each contained a sliver of the primordial power that had divided heaven and earth. They were terrifyingly formidable.
Had Ye Fan not advanced to this state, it would have been exceedingly difficult to break through them — he would have had to unleash every supreme technique to their utmost limits and fight with his life on the line.
But this moment was different. He held no self, no possessions. In the midst of a life-and-death duel, he had attained enlightenment.
Ye Fan made no deliberate effort; he acted purely on instinct, continuously deducing a Great Dao — his heart and body moving as one, striking outward in a state of unknowing and unfelt awareness.
Those watching were shaken to the core. No one understood better than they did how terrifying those small worlds were as they approached perfection — they were enough to suppress the great majority of those present.
“Bang!”
When Ye Fan shattered the one-thousandth small world, he finally returned to himself. His spiritual consciousness emerged back into the real world, no longer immersed within his solitary state of Dao-enlightenment.
A rain of crystalline petals danced through the air. Princess Qi stood alone at the center of the field. Her lustrous black hair floated around her; her eyes held a radiance of divine grace; her jade-white cheeks and vivid crimson lips, framed together and wreathed in divine flowers, made her appear as though she stood within the immortal realm above.
“You actually have some capability — beyond what I expected,” she said, still smiling, more beautiful than any flower, yet her expression had grown incomparably grave. She knew she had met a formidable enemy.
Ye Fan himself had not anticipated it either. He had assumed this firebrand of a beauty was nothing more than an arrogant young woman — he had never imagined she was truly this powerful, someone before whom all the Holy Sons could only bow in reluctant admiration.
Even more striking was the fact that this beauty was only in the Second Transformation of Dragon Ascension — and yet she was displaying this level of combat power. He had already grown to the point where he felt no pressure even against those in the Sixth Transformation.
“If you lose, you really have to be my dragon horse!” Princess Qi smiled like a blossoming flower, utterly self-assured.
“And if you lose, will you become my spirit beast?” Ye Fan keenly seized on the opening — from beginning to end, this beauty had never once stated what would happen if she herself lost.
“Boom!”
Princess Qi, ethereal as a celestial spirit, let a single thought blossom into flowers. In that moment, every last immortal bloom opened at once — brilliance and eternity becoming an unfading, dazzling spectacle that filled all of heaven and earth.
All three thousand divine flowers bloomed together. Primordial chaos energy surged upward, and the aura of a universe being created was overwhelmingly dense.
Unlike at the start, true small worlds were now being brought into existence. Each small world overflowed with a few wisps of primordial chaos energy — and even those wisps combined together were terrifying enough.
The beauty’s robes billowed; her jade arms gleamed pure white and crystalline; her slender waist was narrow and fine; her pair of jade legs were long and straight. She danced with the wind of heaven, divine radiance radiating from her.
In this moment, she was truly like a female Immortal Queen — standing at the center of all heaven and earth, with a single thought causing all the heavens to tremble and move at her command.
Three thousand small worlds revolved — this was an extremely terrifying offensive sacred art, and even an Holy Body as powerful as Ye Fan’s was struggling somewhat to endure it. He fought back fiercely.
He set aside all contempt. The Hall of Exceptional Scholars gathered the outstanding talents of all Five Great Domains — every manner of formidable individual was present. The people he had defeated before could not be said to represent the exceptional — they were far from outstanding.
And now even a single Princess Qi was already like this. One could easily imagine how many hidden dragons and crouching tigers the Hall of Exceptional Scholars harbored within.
He was well aware that there were certainly heaven-defying prodigies inside — how fearsome their combat power truly was, one could not even begin to calculate.
Ye Fan exerted every effort, fighting fiercely against Princess Qi. Encircled by three thousand small worlds, he became the sole point of attack in all of heaven and earth.
“Bang!” “Bang!”
He withdrew from the state of Dao-enlightenment he had been in before, but he had memorized that feeling. Giving free rein to his abilities, he continuously evolved the Sacred Battle Art, striking against these small worlds.
“Hiss!”
And yet the most terrifying thing was this: amidst the three thousand small worlds, the primordial chaos had transformed into a sword, slashing down at irregular intervals!
This was not something illusory — it was a true Primordial Chaos Sword. Even Ye Fan’s formidable physical body did not dare to meet its edge directly; each time, he struck against the flat of the blade.
“What a monster!”
Ye Fan cursed inwardly. His opponent’s sacred art was far too powerful. Three thousand small worlds were one thing — but then to also give rise to a Primordial Chaos Sword imbued with the power of worlds on top of that?
Were it anyone other than him, they would have been cut down long ago. Even so, he was under considerable pressure. They said that beauty and strength were inversely proportional, but this beauty was decidedly an exception to that rule.
“Clang!” “Clang!”
Ye Fan’s divine fist was peerless, displaying strength pressed to its ultimate limits. He directly withstood the small worlds and countered the Primordial Chaos Sword, causing the forces of all the heavens to continuously collapse and shatter, trembling again and again.
The one thing that brought him comfort was this: the Sacred Battle Art was unparalleled in all the world. As long as he could attain enlightenment, he could continuously evolve it, giving birth to ever more powerful techniques of supreme destructive force.
The Battle Character Art knew no end — but everything required the practitioner to achieve personal insight. It could be endlessly elevated. Even two people who learned the Battle Character Art at the same time would ultimately arrive at completely different results.
The ultimate power this sacred art would manifest depended entirely upon their own understanding. It was a door, and behind it lay different worlds for each person.
This was a supreme sacred art for exploring the fundamental source of battle. Only the strongest could walk toward and touch the ultimate realm — it demanded the full power of an entire lifetime of refinement and contemplation.
“Clap!” “Clap!”
Ye Fan evolved the Sacred Battle Art and felt it more and more keenly, giving full expression to all the insights he had gained from his state of Dao-enlightenment, continuously shattering small worlds.
At the same time, he and the Primordial Chaos Sword exchanged an untold number of blows. Although he never touched the blade’s edge, the confrontation was still world-shaking, leaving many within the Hall of Exceptional Scholars astonished.
Ye Fan and Princess Qi fought for supremacy — from midday all the way until the sun was nearly setting, a full two thousand exchanges of blows, enough to be called a brutal battle.
By now, the way many people looked at the situation had completely changed. When they had entered the Hall of Exceptional Scholars, everyone had known that Princess Qi was beautiful — a woman of a nation-toppling, city-felling caliber, enough to entrance any being. But not a single person had known that her strength was this formidable — that she had mastered one of the Southern Ridge Heavenly Emperor’s sacred arts — and everyone was greatly astonished.
Moreover, people were quite curious about Ye Fan as well. He truly lived up to his reputation as the most extraordinary lord this wasteland had ever produced — to have fought this world-shaking heavenly beauty to such a standstill was remarkable.
“Interesting…” a tall man murmured to himself. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the two figures in the field.
Beside him, everyone else was stunned — no one knew when he had arrived — and they all involuntarily drew back.
For people had already recognized him: he was a prodigy. After the Hall of Exceptional Scholars had closed its gates for recruitment, he had arrived late as the last entrant, and with a single strike had wounded the gatekeeper who was in the Ninth Transformation of Dragon Ascension — and the Hall of Exceptional Scholars had selected him as an exception.
“How impressive!” came a voice from a distance. A small child who looked no older than eight or nine — chubby and fair-skinned, with a tuft of hair sticking straight up — stood quietly to one side, murmuring to himself.
This was a tiny prodigy — just nine years old, yet he had already eliminated many opponents and successfully entered the Hall of Exceptional Scholars. His future achievements were beyond limit!
On another side stood a man in silence — his hair disheveled, half-concealing his features — looking mysterious and cold. All around him, people backed away, automatically leaving a vacuum of empty space.
He had left a strong impression on everyone. This was a heaven-defying prodigy: on the day the Hall of Exceptional Scholars opened, he had arrived the very next day. With a single slap he had struck a Royal Body cultivator to death — so startling that several of the Hall’s powerful elders had personally come to observe him.
On yet another side stood a barbarian man clad in animal skins, hefting a wolf-fang club, grinning with a simple, harmless expression — yet still giving people an uneasy feeling.
This one had arrived after the Hall of Exceptional Scholars had already closed, and using the brute sacred power of a savage had shattered one of the powerful elders’ palms with sheer force — dropping the jaws of everyone present.
The prodigies within the Hall of Exceptional Scholars were by no means limited to just these few. There were also arrogant figures who had stormed their way in, and some of these prodigies had also come to watch the battle, surprising many onlookers.
“It should be over now!”
When the battle had reached two thousand five hundred exchanges and the evening glow dyed the sky red, the beauty issued a light rebuke and decided to end the fight.
Endless flower petals rained down, each one shimmering with flowing radiance. The beauty’s entire being gleamed and glittered — she stretched out her body like a soaring immortal, perfection in its most absolute form.
The three thousand small worlds transformed back into resplendent divine flowers, encircling her on all sides. She was immaculate and flawless. A mark at the center of her brow bloomed, shooting light in all four directions. She held the Primordial Chaos Sword and looked down upon all the world.
In that instant, Ye Fan felt a chill in his heart, astonished by the rapidly escalating aura of the beauty, and even more shaken by the terrifying nature of this sacred art.
Within it, he glimpsed a trace of the Ruthless Heavenly Emperor’s style from ages past. Could it be that with a single thought, three thousand true great worlds had once obeyed that being’s command?
And to think — this was only one of that Emperor’s unparalleled sacred arts. Heaven only knew what earth-shaking supreme techniques were contained in the other secret texts!
“Kill!”
That such a woman — one capable of entrancing all living beings — could let such a word fall from those delicate crimson lips carried a certain ineffable quality: killing intent sharp as needles, terrifying beyond measure.
“Boom!”
Three thousand divine flowers bloomed and merged into one, evolving into a single small world. Simultaneously, the mark at her brow surged outward and shot into it.
The flower blooms, the world opens — formless, thoughtless, without shape or spirit. Without realizing it, Ye Fan was drawn inside in an instant.
Within this small world, heaven and earth fell silent. The flower rain stopped. All things were frozen in midair. Only the two of them — he and Princess Qi — stood facing each other.
Without question, Princess Qi was the master of this world. With a single thought she could control everything, wielding the cycle of life and death.
“This is a true and perfect small world under my command. Here I am a god. If you lose, you’ll be my dragon horse,” the beauty said with a smile — extraordinarily lovely and captivating. She held the Primordial Chaos Sword with peerless grace.
“And if you lose, will you become my spirit beast?” Ye Fan regarded her from the corner of his eye.
With just that one remark, Princess Qi’s expression immediately fell. She raised the sword and slashed straight downward. The confined small world instantly came alive, and all divine power came under her command.
Ye Fan moved as well. He pushed his combat power to its absolute limit — there was simply no way to hold anything in reserve. He had come to realize that every time he encountered anything connected to the Ruthless Emperor, it would fill him with a sense of overwhelming threat.
“Boom!”
Ye Fan evolved the Sacred Battle Art, bombarding this small world, seeking to destroy it utterly by sheer force. At the same time, the Movement Character Art activated — swift as a wisp of drifting light — launching a killing assault on Princess Qi.
This was a world-shaking great battle — yet regrettably, those outside could not witness it. This was an independent small world, sealed off from everything.
“All heavens, be still!” Princess Qi called out softly. She sought to freeze all things within this world, bringing time and space to a halt.
Yet Ye Fan quietly activated all his divine phenomena. Though they did not manifest visibly, their effect was revealed in ways unseen — and there was absolutely no way to freeze him.
“Hiss!”
The Primordial Chaos Sword slashed down — the most terrifying form of attack within this small world. Every time, Ye Fan struck only against the flat of the blade, never meeting the edge.
“Heavenly Dao, suppress!” Princess Qi called out again.
“You cannot suppress me!” Ye Fan let out a long shout. His body moved, unleashing every supreme technique at once and bombarding the small world.
“Boom!”
The All-Encompassing Character Secret triggered — a tenfold increase in combat power. He finally cracked open this small world’s prison. Simultaneously, the Movement Character Art deployed, the Sacred Battle Art evolved, and he blazed like a divine being radiating precious brilliance, charging forward with killing momentum.
“Bang!” “Bang!”
Ye Fan struck the Primordial Chaos Sword again and again in direct frontal collisions, finally sending it flying away. The small world collapsed entirely. He raged through it like a beam of immortal light, slaughtering in all directions.
“Boom!”
Outside, everyone was greatly startled as that small world shattered open. Two silhouettes shot out one after the other.
“Swish!”
But immediately they merged into one — Ye Fan had seized Princess Qi. One arm encircled her slender waist; the other hand pressed against her neck, white and beautiful as a swan’s.