The thunder sea had dissipated. The heavenly tribulation had vanished. Hua Yunfei stood in the void, his blue robes billowing, with an incomparable composure and calm, his face carrying a confident smile.
Below, the great lake lay in a misty haze, ten thousand acres of green waves shimmering in tranquility. There were no bird calls or beast roars — only a faint ink wash painting come to life.
Hua Yunfei was a clever man and did not continue speaking. Words were useless. Any notion of drinking and talking pleasantly between the two of them was impossible. There was only a battle to the death.
“Brother Ye, you come from beyond the domain — that place truly makes one yearn to visit. I hope that one day I may make such a journey.” A faint smile played at the corners of Hua Yunfei’s lips.
Ye Fan’s heart jolted. Had Li Xiaoman revealed everything? Yet now he had no more fear. He had already grown. Even if the entire world knew, what of it? He could go anywhere — no one could stop him.
In that moment, Hua Yunfei made his move decisively, deliberately stirring Ye Fan’s emotions to cause a single instant of distraction, hoping to seize the first strike. From the very start, he unleashed his most ferocious technique.
Boom!
He formed hand seals with both hands and clapped them together with force. An enormous black hole appeared, swallowing Ye Fan whole — his very first strike was the Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art!
Ye Fan’s eyes flashed like lightning, his black hair wild and disheveled. He too moved immediately, unleashing the Peerless Holy Technique — the Mountain-Embracing Seal, the Human Sovereign Seal, and the Heaven-Overturning Seal, striking them out one after another.
This was an awe-inspiring ancient art, manifesting the Three Seals of Heaven, Earth, and Man. With man as its foundation, it represented the will of heaven and earth — suppressing all realms, sweeping away every divine being.
In that instant of eternity, ancient chants and sacrificial hymns arose, like an immortal battle song piercing through boundless void, waging war across every heaven and world.
Dong!
Ye Fan stepped forward. Life essence surged across his entire body. Behind him, the black hole collapsed — yet it was madly plundering his golden blood aura, devouring everything.
Bang!
This was the first time he had unleashed all three great ancient seals together. Their inner workings were supremely profound, interconnected within, their combined power terrifyingly vast. As they received the oncoming force, it was as though a world was being opened.
The black hole caved in. Every inch of Ye Fan’s body gleamed with crystalline light, flowing with boundless divine power. He drove a path through using the three great seals and finally broke free entirely.
Boom!
Ye Fan’s golden great hand reached out, uprooting a small island-mountain from the lake. Merging it with the Mountain-Embracing Seal, he struck downward, borrowing the mighty power of the vast earth.
Hua Yunfei remained unhurried. With a single point of his finger, black radiance erupted and reduced that great mountain to nothing — its dust flowing into a black rift that split open in the air.
Ye Fan was startled. Three years had passed without meeting, and this man had truly become unfathomably deep. He was a great life-and-death enemy, and who was weaker or stronger between them was impossible to predict.
“With a single thought, the flower blooms — I reign supreme over all under heaven!”
Hua Yunfei called out lightly. One after another, translucent flower petals came drifting down from the sky. Each was etched with the markings of the Dao, and each single blossom was capable of cleaving through a mountain.
Above the great lake, there was nothing but pure white and crystal clarity. Hua Yunfei floated like a transcendent immortal, standing upon a flower petal more than a meter in length, his hair streaming in the wind, his skin shimmering with radiance.
Ye Fan felt it cut like a knife scraping bone — a kind of pressure that threatened to shatter every part of him.
A rain of flowers filled the air, and every one was a blossom of awakened Dao, each branded with Hua Yunfei’s mark. In that moment, threads of Dao light descended from the petals like tens of thousands of waterfalls cascading down.
Rumble!
The world blazed with radiance. With a single thought, the flower bloomed — Dao markings rained down, grinding away all obstruction. The trajectory of the Dao erased everything.
Clang!
Ye Fan manifested the Sacred Battle Art, sometimes unleashing golden fists, sometimes forming hand seals shaped like a dragon, sometimes propelling the sun and moon forward — colliding with every flower petal, making contact with every thread of Dao light.
The world was blinding. Three years after their last meeting, Ye Fan once again battled Hua Yunfei, trading blows with his matchless divine techniques.
“Ye Fan, I look forward to seeing your origin source!”
An endless rain of flowers fell — each petal gleaming like crystal. Hua Yunfei was like a deity pinching a flower and smiling, immaculate and unblemished, supremely sacred, every petal branded with his mark.
Rustle, rustle!
A clear wind swept through. Looking out, as far as the eye could see, the sky was filled with Hua Yunfei’s silhouettes — it was impossible to tell flower petals from the thousand upon ten thousand bodies he had manifested. True and false were indistinguishable.
Time seemed to flow back three years. It was the same technique — yet many times more powerful than before, revealing the true and supreme meaning of the Peerless Holy Technique.
An indescribable oppressiveness filled the air. A world-destroying killing intent descended. It felt as though the apocalypse had arrived.
The Black Emperor had once said: the Ruthless Emperor created this holy technique — “With a single thought, the flower blooms; I reign supreme over all” — whereby each and every manifestation could transform into a true body. It was a supreme killing art!
Ye Fan’s expression grew solemn. His hands traced patterns, manifesting the Tai Chi divine diagram through the Sacred Battle Art. The yin-yang diagram emerged. He arched his body like a dragon and surged forward in an instant.
Boom!
A violent, massive collision. Waves from the great lake surged skyward. Far off along the shore, a great section of mountain peaks crumbled. A tremendous collision unfolded between the two of them.
A clash between equal adversaries!
Ye Fan shattered the sky-filling flower petals and slew the tens of thousands of Hua Yunfei manifestations, leaving only the true body standing upon that flower petal.
The dragon-shaped Dao markings of the Tai Chi divine diagram had failed to slay the great enemy before him. Ye Fan’s heart sank abruptly. Ever since he had evolved this technique through the Battle Sacred Art, it had been invincible — there had been no enemy it could not kill.
Today, though it remained as powerful as before, it had only broken the opponent’s holy technique without managing to strike him down.
Hua Yunfei’s eyes flickered. A trace of shock crossed his face, but he quickly composed himself. Taking the initiative, he launched an attack, charging toward Ye Fan.
The Ten-Thousand Transformations Sacred Art!
He unleashed another divine technique — one that stole the workings of heaven and earth, capable of turning any secret art into the commonplace. It truly transformed the miraculous into the mundane, and was terrifying to the extreme.
Ye Fan’s heart tightened. Though he had witnessed it before, he still felt an immense pressure. The Ten-Thousand Transformations Sacred Art affected all of his various wondrous techniques.
Worthy indeed of the miraculous art created by the Ruthless Emperor — it possessed inconceivable power, infinitely diminishing the opponent’s combat strength, countering every divine technique under heaven and reducing them all to the ordinary.
Ye Fan found himself fighting in an extremely awkward position. Were it not for the Nine Secrets bolstering him, allowing the Battle Sacred Art to drive his various divine techniques, he would likely have been reduced to utter defeat long ago.
Even when he manifested the Sacred Battle Art, it suffered some degree of suppression. The Ten-Thousand Transformations Sacred Art earned its reputation as a peerless invincible technique without reason — it was the crystallization of an ancient great emperor’s life’s work.
At this moment, Ye Fan could hold nothing back. Every secret technique emerged at once, all of them driven by the Battle Secret Art.
Boom!
Boundless killing intent erupted. For the first time, Ye Fan brought forth many of the great life-taking arts of the Heavenly Court. Treading the Movement Secret Art, his entire being transformed into a streak of light, his killing strikes unending.
Hua Yunfei too displayed his full repertoire — wondrous and startling arts never seen or heard before emerged in rapid succession, all supported by the Ten-Thousand Transformations Sacred Art, making him terrifyingly powerful.
The two fought a world-shaking battle, from the depths of the great lake all the way to the shore. Waves tens of thousands of feet high crashed like a tsunami, submerging entire mountain ranges.
They shook with force and the towering lake waters receded. Below, swaths of mountain ranges toppled, crumbling like sandcastles, an enormous expanse of land reduced to flat ground.
Ye Fan madly elevated his combat power, continuously pressing into the Eight Forbidden Realm — enough to battle a mid-stage expert at the first tier of the Immortal Terrace — his divine might unstoppable.
Hua Yunfei felt a trace of pressure. He brought out the Phoenix-Winged Gilded Trident and fought with it, its form transforming into streaks of black radiance issuing strange screaming sounds as heaven and earth were thrown into great upheaval.
Ye Fan swung the Divine Punishment Whip, executing various secret techniques, clashing hard against him as the two fought fiercely and without pause.
Boom!
Suddenly, a mountain range more than twenty li long was seized by Hua Yunfei’s hand and compressed to just over a meter in length, which he then lashed toward Ye Fan — crushing the heavens and collapsing the earth!
Ye Fan’s heart chilled. His opponent had pushed the Ten-Thousand Transformations Sacred Art to its ultimate extreme to achieve such power. At its absolute pinnacle, he could pluck stars from the sky and catch the moon.
Bang!
He dared not show the slightest carelessness. He met it with his golden fist, striking heavily at that meter-long dragon-shaped mountain range. It was so immensely heavy it could nearly crush the vault of heaven.
Boom!
Golden light blazed ten thousand feet. Ye Fan shattered it, immediately revealing its true form — the more-than-twenty-li mountain range turned to powder, endless stones and dust falling from on high as smoke surged skyward.
The two had reached the white-hot stage of their battle. With a long howl, Ye Fan brought forth various phenomena, intending to use them to trap Hua Yunfei in a death battle. The golden bitter sea surged and roiled, appearing beneath his feet.
A green lotus swayed. Primordial mist coiled around him. A small embroidered world took shape, enveloping his body.
Boom!
Yet the first to strike was the Immortal King in the sky. His great hand, vast as a mountain, came smashing down.
The Immortal King bore the Nine Heavens down in suppression — his might flooding like a tide, like a true deity descended from the divine realm!
“The Immortal Ascension Art!”
Hua Yunfei let out a long howl. His attack power in that instant became world-shatteringly peerless — and he fiercely collided head-on with the phenomena, charging directly in.
Ye Fan finally witnessed this secret technique. It was said that its offensive power was unrivaled in the world. Were it unleashed by the Ruthless Emperor, it would carry the power of an ascending immortal!
There are no immortals in the world — yet it was said that the ancient Celestial Emperors could display such inconceivable power, said to be incapable of being stopped by anything, incapable of being blocked by anything.
Ye Fan’s heart leapt — yet he took the initiative to retract the phenomena. Since his opponent dared come in close for hand-to-hand combat, he could fight to his heart’s content, using the Peerless Sacred Physique to suppress.
They clashed together, fighting at close range. The sacred physique’s physical body was matchless, its offensive power beyond compare. Yet the Immortal Ascension Art shook through the ages — it carried the power of an ascending immortal!
“This is bad!”
Ye Fan felt a great calamity was upon him. The Immortal Ascension Art was extraordinarily terrifying — it could absolutely wound him. But that was not what made his heart tremble with fear.
What made his heart convulse was that Hua Yunfei did not defend at all. He let Ye Fan’s palm shatter his body into four or five pieces — yet used that same moment to imprint the Immortal Ascension Art upon Ye Fan’s body.
Ye Fan’s body shook violently. Even a physique as powerful as the Sacred Physique could not endure it. All five organs shattered, tendons and bones snapped, and golden blood went flying.
There was no denying it — the Immortal Ascension Art was even more terrifying than the legends. Were it unleashed by an ancient great emperor, it would absolutely carry power that transcended the limits of the human body — the power of an ascending immortal!
Ye Fan’s body split open, torn to a wretched state. Fortunately he had not been reduced to a paste of flesh. He had not anticipated that Hua Yunfei would be so ruthless, willing to accept mutual devastation.
“How vicious…” He dared not delay for even a moment, for he knew why his opponent had dared to act this way. He hastened to heal himself.
A phoenix cry rang out, shaking the nine heavens. Immortal flames burned fiercely. Far away, the shattered Hua Yunfei’s physical body was reassembling, rapidly knitting itself back together.
The Phoenix Tribulation Rebirth Art!
Hua Yunfei possessed great fortune. Beyond inheriting the legacy of an ancient great emperor, he had also obtained this heaven-defying miraculous art with its divine effect of nine deaths and rebirth.
The last time, during the great battle in the Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland, he had used this method to escape death’s grasp. This time, however, he was even more thorough — using this secret technique and being utterly ruthless with himself to kill Ye Fan. He had nearly succeeded.
Ye Fan’s physical body was more solid and unyielding than even a Holy Lord’s — it was nearly impossible to injure. But the Immortal Ascension Art was too terrifying, fully deserving its name. At this moment, Ye Fan was grievously wounded.
More than a hundred bones were broken, his meridians had all ruptured, and his internal organs were shattered. He gritted his teeth and activated the Nirvana Sutra that An Miaoyi had passed to him, simultaneously triggering the “All” Secret Art to stack this healing holy technique tenfold.
Crack, crack…
The bones throughout his body were rapidly reconnecting. Endless golden blood aura burned. The Nirvana Holy Technique consumed his own essence blood to heal his wounds.
The greatest strength of the Sacred Physique lay in the physical body — possessing an inexhaustible divine power, a blood aura of incomparable vitality, vast as an ocean, the golden blood aura submerging him entirely within.
The two raced against time, competing for speed. Whoever recovered first would seize absolute initiative — able to use forceful means to interrupt the other and annihilate them.