The golden celestial monument pressed down, striking Wang Chong’s back and driving him into the rubble — giant boulders rolling, dust billowing, chaos everywhere.
Crash!
The nine-year-old boy Wang Chong struggled with all his might, leveling a whole stone forest to the ground. His clothing was in tatters, his hair disheveled. Both eyes blazed with fire — having been pampered and praised since young, he had never suffered such a humiliation.
“Ye Fan!”
Both eyes shot upright, blue veins throbbing violently at his forehead. His expression was frightening. Though only nine years old, there was a ferocious, savage look to him — vicious beyond measure.
Roar…
Dragon cries rose up one after another. He formed dragon seals with both hands, manifesting a full eighteen azure dragons — twice as many as before, each one far thicker, like eighteen mountain ridges stretching across the sky, their presence overwhelming.
Boom!
Eighteen dragons, vast and boundless, powerful and mighty, dove to kill simultaneously. All of them surged toward Ye Fan at once, and even before they arrived, the ground below had cracked open in hundreds and thousands of fissures.
Each fissure stretched several li in length — a terrifying sight. The scorched earth beneath seemed about to sink and cease to exist entirely, a scene of utter apocalyptic ruin.
“The little brat still won’t give up!” Ye Fan moved through the azure dragons, every action and motion embodying profound principle, as though enacting a scripture of the Dao — mysterious beyond fathom.
Spit! Spit!
One palm struck and crushed an azure dragon’s head to a bloody pulp. A raised foot snapped another dragon in two, its massive body dripping blood as it fell from the high sky.
Ye Fan struck out with his golden great handprints in continuous succession — slapping out eighteen palms, killing all eighteen azure dragons. Then he advanced step by step toward Wang Chong.
Boom!
Suddenly, Wang Chong opened his mouth and spat out a war chariot — barely an inch tall, yet it emitted a deafening rumble, boom boom boom, grinding toward Ye Fan.
Ye Fan’s expression tightened. Something felt off — he retreated to the side, then raised a hand and launched a gleaming steel ring like a bolt of lightning straight at it.
Clang!
The gleaming vajra ring struck the battle chariot — which had now grown to over a meter in height — yet in a split second was sent flying back, breaking apart with a cracking sound.
“This is…” Ye Fan’s eyes contracted. The vajra ring was a magical treasure he had seized from Yao Guang, interwoven with Dao and principle — yet a single collision with this ancient chariot had split it in two.
Rumble rumble!
The ancient battle chariot enlarged rapidly, stretching three zhang in length, engraved with true dragons across its body, pitch black throughout. Like a flood tide surging forward, it carried an endless terrifying aura.
Bang!
Ye Fan pushed forward a sun with his left hand and a moon with his right. Golden light overflowed his entire body. Sun and moon, great as millstones, rumbled into motion. He was like a divine being making a heavenly circuit.
Blazing sun and silver moon — their radiance poured down like a waterfall, illuminating the void until it shimmered crystal clear. All of it struck the ancient battle chariot, producing a tremendous impact.
Boom!
The black ancient battle chariot engraved with true dragons stopped — yet Ye Fan’s arms went somewhat numb. This was the first time his physical body’s attacking technique had been blocked by a magical treasure. It was difficult to imagine just how formidable this battle chariot was.
“A Royal-Grade War Chariot!”
Ye Fan’s heart went cold. This was a king’s weapon — tempered and refined by a peerless sovereign — surpassing holy sovereign-grade armaments. No wonder the vajra ring had shattered in a single blow.
Rumble rumble…
The black ancient battle chariot charged again. Its terrifying aura grew even denser — like an ancient fierce beast, emitting waves of dark light, arriving in an instant.
Ye Fan shifted three hundred zhang sideways to dodge — yet the battle chariot moved like a phantom, reaching him in an instant, completely locking onto him. Like a flooding tide, dark light submerged heaven and earth.
Boom!
The king’s divine weapon aura surged like a rainbow, sweeping aside all in its path. Rocks, cliff walls rapidly dissolved to dust. If it were an ordinary Dragon Transformation cultivator, they would have been ground to nothing long ago — it was like a great divine hand pressing down.
It was Ye Fan’s first time facing such a weapon. His physical body was formidable, but once this ancient battle chariot fully awakened and wove in its radiance of laws, he could not directly contest it.
He retreated more than a dozen li. A stretch of mountain range below was crushed flat by the ancient battle chariot, toppled into endless billowing dust.
This ancient chariot swept away all resistance. Almost nothing could stop it. This was a king’s weapon left in the world by an unparalleled existence at the level of the Divine King Jiang Taixu — something that would make even a sage sovereign contend for it at auction, its destructive power so fearsome nothing could withstand its edge.
“Ye Fan, aren’t you the peerless Sacred Physique? Today, before everyone’s eyes, I’ll grind that physical body of yours you’re so proud of into a pulp of meat — have you become nothing but mud beneath my wheels!”
Wang Chong, though small, had a most savage and ferocious nature. Standing atop the black dragon chariot, moving at tremendous speed, ramming and crashing forward, his expression ruthless, his arrogance blazing like fire.
“A king’s divine weapon consumes enormously — how long can you sustain activating it?” Ye Fan smiled faintly and did not contest its edge, backing away at speed.
“Long enough to grind you to death beneath the wheels!” Wang Chong stood upon the ancient battle chariot, drew a small jade bottle, pulled the stopper free — a fragrant current flowed — and tipped a drop of liquid into his mouth.
Within it were over a dozen drops of dragon marrow, each as large as a grape, not mingling with one another, like one golden agate bead after another, crystalline and intoxicating.
Many onlookers saw this and felt that this boy’s fortune was truly heaven-defying. To kill Ye Fan, he casually used dragon marrow to replenish his divine power. Heaven only knew what kind of immense benefits he’d obtained from falling into that dragon’s cave.
Originally, Ye Fan had intended to wait until Wang Chong’s divine power was exhausted and he could no longer activate the ancient battle chariot before making his move — but seeing him about to spend dragon marrow lavishly, he delayed no further.
Clang!
Around his body, nine weapons materialized and floated — a jade-green blade, a purple jade sword, a scarlet jade spear, an ink jade halberd, a white jade shield… nine jade weapons, not one more than three inches in length, warm and lustrous, emanating an aura that shook one’s very soul.
Whoosh!
Ye Fan pinched a two-inch purple jade sword between his fingers and charged forward, slashing with full force. A beam of purple light split the great heaven in two.
Along the earth, rumbling sounds rang out. A great fissure stretching more than twenty li spread into the far distance — nothing could withstand it, mountain peaks and desolate ridges alike destroyed.
Clang!
The black battle chariot was struck and stopped in its tracks. Wang Chong’s body shuddered violently, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. Ye Fan switched weapons, picking up a three-inch ink jade halberd with his right hand, descending from the heavens.
Boom!
The halberd’s edge swept away all resistance, cleaving through the dark light, piercing into the ancient battle chariot. Ye Fan descended with ease and stood upon the chariot.
“You… what weapon is that?” Wang Chong was greatly startled. The battle chariot was a king’s weapon — unfailingly effective, killing Dragon Transformation Realm cultivators like tearing paper.
He had not expected that today someone would break into it, and from such close range — the ink jade halberd was nearly at his face.
“Don’t think you’re the only one with a king-grade weapon. Your battle chariot is fine, but it’s not yet something you can master — leave it to me as my mount.” Ye Fan put away the nine divine weapons and sent a golden great handprint striking forward.
Bang!
At such close range, Wang Chong had nowhere to dodge. He thrust out two small hands in resistance — yet both wrists split open at the joints, blood pouring freely.
Ye Fan was surprised. He’d expected to shatter every bone in his opponent’s body — but only the wrists had split, with blood running freely.
“The physical body is decent. Let me test it again.”
Ye Fan’s palm fingers became a reddish-gold, growing more brilliantly resplendent, his entire body like seven-colored glazed crystal radiating light, golden blood aura shooting to the sky.
Bang!
This time, Wang Chong let out a great cry, spitting blood from his mouth, both arms broken — he could no longer block.
“I’m quite curious — how, at such a young age, were you able to temper your physical body to this degree?” Ye Fan pressed forward.
In the back, all those Holy Son-caliber figures had changed color. Rumor had it Wang Chong had drunk dragon blood. Though young in age, his body had the indestructibility of the vajra — even a divine monk of the Buddhist faith had once nodded in admiration.
Yet now, Ye Fan had struck and broken his bones. The Sacred Physique’s physical body in a single hit could not be blocked at all — a terrifying revelation.
Slap!
Ye Fan’s golden great handprint came down again. This time using eighty percent of his power, the boy Wang Chong spat great quantities of blood, seven or eight bones snapping.
“Truly something exceptional — if it were a half-step great master, they would have been reduced to a pulp long ago. But you’re still holding on.”
Ye Fan was offering a compliment — yet Wang Chong’s face flushed crimson at the words, his blood pressure spiking, furious beyond measure. He felt this was a form of humiliation.
“My brother will avenge me. When the time comes you will die without even a burial ground!” Wang Chong’s eyes blazed fire — unsubdued, unbowed.
Slap!
Ye Fan gave him a smack across the top of his head. “Still talking tough? Your brother — does he surpass even a great master? Even they cannot kill me.”
“They are nothing. My brother is called the reincarnation of an ancient emperor. One finger of his could annihilate you. Don’t think running fast will save you — even if you flee to the ends of the earth and the corners of the sea, he can drag you out.” The nine-year-old Wang Chong shouted.
Slap!
Ye Fan capped him with another smack on the head. “I’ll wait for him to come find me. For now, let us deal with you first — hand over all your rare treasures.”
He began an outright plundering. Snatching first, he took the bottle of jade marrow into his hand, then shook Wang Chong out of the chariot. In a flash of light, the ancient battle chariot shrank to barely over an inch, appearing in his palm. He wiped away the imprinted mark and put it away.
“Give it back — those are my treasures!” Wang Chong screamed in frantic fury. Only at this moment did he look like a child who had lost something dearly beloved.
“Give them back to you? Not a chance!” Ye Fan grabbed him with one hand and searched through his Sea of Wheels and Dao Palace, extracting a pile of valuables.
The precious items were numerous — no fewer than a dozen medicinal herbs over ten thousand years old, all usable for preserving life, and three bottles of dragon marrow, each containing over ten drops, golden-yellow in color, clearly of the highest grade.
In addition, there was a jade stele engraved with a true dragon seal in one image — intricate and wondrous. One glance and it was clear this was a divine technique passed down to no one outside, requiring serious contemplation and comprehension.
“What a good child you are. With so many rare treasures, I don’t even know how to thank you.” Ye Fan smiled.
The ancient battle chariot was a king’s weapon — as precious as the nine divine weapons, with immeasurable value. If put up for auction, sage sovereigns would contend for it. Its destructive power was terrifying enough to make one’s hair stand on end — nothing could withstand its edge.
Dragon marrow contained fragments of laws within. For Dragon Transformation Realm cultivators during enlightenment, using it as a supplement could reduce effort and double results — its uses were boundless.
The true dragon seal — on the same level as the Mountain-Embracing Seal, the Human Sovereign Seal, and their kind. Ye Fan vaguely sensed there might be some form of connection between them — a treasure of a secret technique.
“Ye Fan — even if you kill me, you won’t live long. Just wait — my brother will eternally suppress you into the dark underworld, with no hope of escape!” Seeing Ye Fan raise his hand and press down, Wang Chong shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Such violence at this young age — I should remove this small calamity sooner rather than later.” Ye Fan extended a single finger, directing it toward the space between Wang Chong’s brows.
“Terrible — if that person learns we watched his younger brother die right before our eyes, he might come for us too!”
In the back, everyone’s color changed. Many of them made their move, all manner of magical treasures firing forward together.
Ding!
Ye Fan casually picked up one of the nine divine weapons floating nearby — a jade-green blade barely over two inches long — and swept it through the air above, producing a soft jade chime.
A swath of jade-green saber light like a jade ocean swept past. Eleven magical treasures in the sky simultaneously became fine powder, trickling down in fragments.
Two other people screamed — split cleanly in two, they died then and there, their bodies falling from the high sky.
“He carries king-grade weapons on his person… there’s no stopping this. What do we do?” The remaining crowd went pale.
“We’ve done everything we could. His brother has nothing to say against us — he can’t hold it against us.” Some of them backed away quickly.
Ye Fan’s golden finger directed toward the space between Wang Chong’s brows — before it arrived, the force had already emerged, golden light flickering.
A fissure appeared between Wang Chong’s brows. Blood traced the crack. His face went white, his body unable to move.
Boom!
Suddenly, a powerful aura burst forth. Between Wang Chong’s brows, ten thousand divine lights erupted — like a world gate being thrown open — with thousands upon thousands of auspicious colors shining.
Ye Fan retreated quickly. He had sensed a dangerous fluctuation, and brought the nine divine weapons before him as a shield.
It was a profoundly mysterious sight. Between Wang Chong’s brows, a world gate opened wide. A golden ancient battle chariot flew out, and atop it stood a tall, imposing figure — like a divine being or a great demon.
“It’s him — Wang Teng, the Ancient Emperor!”
“How could he be within Wang Chong’s brows?”
Those Holy Son-caliber figures cried out in shock, halting at the distant mountains, all of them stunned with surprise.
The golden ancient battle chariot rumbled with sound as it flew out. The tall figure standing atop it had disheveled black hair, a face chiseled like a blade, skin the color of ancient bronze, a powerful and vigorous build — his entire body enveloped in golden light shooting straight to the sky — like a celestial emperor descending to earth.
Moreover, around him floated nine true dragons, nine divine phoenixes, nine white tigers, and nine black tortoises. Their divine light flickered as they formed the Four Symbols, encircling him.
It was like a portrait of a celestial emperor arriving in the world — guarded by the four divine beasts of the starry cosmos, Wang Teng with hair billowing in the wind, standing at the center of the war chariot, radiant with ten thousand zhang of brilliant light, surveying all beneath heaven in the gaze of one making a circuit of the skies.
Ye Fan was astounded. This person’s aura was far too powerful — no elder of the old generation could compare. This was a kind of inner, formidable latent energy.
Dragon and phoenix sang in harmony. White tigers howled to the sky. Black tortoises expanded across the seas. Ten thousand layers of golden light, brilliant beyond measure — Wang Teng stood upon the ancient battle chariot, immovable as a mountain, his gaze deep and unfathomable.
“He’s truly come!” Those Holy Son-caliber figures all changed color.
Wang Teng — said to be the reincarnation of an ancient emperor — was born in the Northern Plains. As early as fifteen years of age he had been without peer among the Northern Plains’ younger generation. Now, ten years later, almost no one knew what level he had reached.
Everyone said he was simply a great emperor reborn — for his path of growth bore too strong a resemblance to the great emperors recorded in human history. He even surpassed them.
His natural talent — those who understood it were invariably left feeling it was frightening. Not a single person was anything but aghast. To compare oneself to him was to feel one’s own existence was a tragedy.
Moreover, this person bore extraordinary fortune. At the age of a little over ten, he once came out to temper himself in the world — traveling alone to the Eastern Desolation. In just a single journey, he obtained one of the Nine Secrets and returned to the Northern Plains.
This was only what the outside world knew of him. What ancient techniques he truly commanded, not a single person knew in full — not even his own clansmen.
A chill settled in Ye Fan’s heart. This person proclaimed to be the reincarnation of an ancient emperor was extraordinarily mysterious and powerful, possessing a heaven-defying aura that made one’s heart shudder.
On the golden battle chariot, ten thousand rays of light shone, illuminating the figure atop it as though he were an ancient emperor — nine true dragons, nine divine phoenixes, nine white tigers, nine black tortoises circling around him, their divine light radiating in thousands of streams, attending the celestial emperor at the center. And among the four divine beasts, fearsome lightning flickered — an aura of terror born only after enduring over a dozen Heavenly Tribulations!