Wang Chong was insufferably arrogant, as though he himself were the Northern Emperor — looking down on Li Heishui, Jiang Huairen, and the others with contemptuous words, pointing at them freely, ready to kill or spare on a whim.

He was nothing more than a little demon prodigy of eleven or twelve years old, yet he strutted about with such reckless arrogance, humiliating the young generation’s Holy Son-level figures without a care in the world.

Then, a massive golden foot descended from the heavens, stamping him into the ground in an instant. The impact sent dust and smoke billowing skyward as the surface split open, and the situation reversed completely.

Wang Chong let out a miserable scream — he was truly frightened now. The golden foot, a full zhang in length, was as heavy as a mountain. His sternum had shattered; he could not draw breath. His entire body was nearly crushed out of shape.

At that moment, Ye Fan unleashed his divine manifestation. He towered ten zhang tall, as though cast from pure gold — like a war god descended from the celestial realm, his strength capable of lifting mountains, his spirit dominating the world.

Ye Fan’s sole ground and twisted, as though crushing a mere insect. Wang Chong’s bones creaked throughout his body, fracturing one by one. Though they were at the same cultivation realm, whose physical body could compare to that of a Holy Body?

By comparison, Wang Chong was as fragile as a glass figurine. There was simply no way he could endure it. Blood sprayed from his mouth, his eyes brimming with venomous hatred, yet he did not utter a single word.

“You’re courting death — release him!”

“How dare you bring a killing foot down — today you will die with no corpse left whole! Your soul will descend into the underworld, branded with the marks of the Eighteen Hells, suffering without end!”

Two furious roars rang out nearby. Two ancient creatures lunged forward — one stood a full zhang tall, its body covered in dense golden scales; the other stood two meters high, bearing a pair of silver divine wings. Both were ferocious and savage, their eyes sharp as blades.

Yet for all that, they dared not act recklessly. One more ounce of pressure from Ye Fan’s foot, and Wang Chong would be reduced to a pulp of flesh — not even fragments of bone would remain.

“Get out of my way!” Ye Fan could not be bothered with them. He bellowed his rebuke and pressed down harder with his foot. The little demon prodigy screamed and coughed up great mouthfuls of blood.

“You… truly do not know the meaning of death. Our master is here — how dare you run wild? You will find even dying difficult. In a moment, we will render you into human oil and use you to light a celestial lamp.” One ancient creature threatened Ye Fan menacingly.

“Release him at once — we will allow you to leave unharmed. Otherwise you will regret ever being born into this world, and beg for death that will never come.” The other ancient creature shouted loudly.

Crack!

The only answer they received was a forceful stamp. In an instant, over a hundred of Wang Chong’s bones snapped. His body convulsed, his face pale as snow, filled with terror.

At this moment, only his head protruded from beneath the golden foot. Every other part of his body was pinned beneath the sole, his life and death hanging by the thinnest of threads.

Li Heishui, Jiang Huairen, Wu Zhongtian, and the others felt a great relief wash over them. Witnessing this scene, they all breathed out the foul breath they had been holding. They had been thoroughly suppressed moments ago — that little demon prodigy had gone far too far in his arrogance.

“Ye Fan, you dare strike to kill me — my elder brother will not let you go. No matter what cards you hold, you cannot escape death!” Wang Chong’s mouth remained hard. With so many eyes watching, he refused to beg for mercy, for that alone would cause his elder brother to lose face beyond recovery. He continued to bluster.

“Release him now!” The two ancient creatures roared once more.

Ji Ziyue was worried. Right now, Ye Fan was no match for Wang Teng no matter what — the gap in cultivation realms was simply too vast. She whispered a quiet reminder from behind: “Don’t act rashly.”

“This is not a good place to kill him…” Liu Kou and the others said the same. The Northern Emperor’s combat power was there for all to see, and his ongoing clash against the Central Emperor made even the leaders of various factions hesitant.

“Release me at once — or you will know the consequences!” Wang Chong shouted. Seeing the expressions on everyone’s faces, he understood they all feared his elder brother. His heart settled, and he sneered repeatedly.

“You want me to release you?” Ye Fan smiled, and lifted his great foot.

“At least you have some sense.” Wang Chong spat a mouthful of blood and moved to climb up.

Boom!

Suddenly, the great golden foot descended from above once more. This time it came down directly on his face, driving him half a body’s length into the ground.

“You… what do you want?!” Wang Chong was now truly shaken, truly afraid. He sent out a divine thought: “Don’t do anything reckless.”

Ye Fan lifted his foot slightly. The little demon prodigy’s face was twisted in terror — his entire mouthful of teeth had been knocked out, his features horribly deformed.

Boom!

Ye Fan brought his foot down again with a stamp. Wang Chong instantly became something resembling a flattened persimmon cake — his body broken and ruined, crushed beneath that single foot.

“Help me! Save me!” The little demon prodigy could no longer care about anything else. He screamed out with his divine thought, his panic beyond all measure.

“Did you think I wouldn’t dare kill you? Even in this state you dare to act arrogant — today I will stamp you to death like stomping on a cockroach!” Ye Fan gave a cold laugh.

Boom!

He withdrew the divine manifestation and returned to the size of a normal person, then brought his foot down once more onto Wang Chong’s face. There was no longer anything resembling a human being left.

Everyone was stunned. It was unmistakably clear that Ye Fan intended to end his life — striking like this left no doubt he had no intention of letting the little demon prodigy survive.

“Stop!”

The two ancient primordial creatures charged forward — one gold, one silver — exhaling divine radiance, like two ferocious beasts lunging in for the kill.

In the distance, Wang Teng, locked in a life-or-death battle with the Central Emperor, swept his gaze over. Two spine-chilling beams of light shot from his eyes, enough to shatter one’s very soul.

“Here’s my answer!” Ye Fan let out a cold snort and brought his foot down with full force.

Splat!

Blood exploded in all directions. The golden sole crushed Wang Chong alive, reducing him to a mass of pulp that scattered outward. His own green robes did not catch a single drop of blood.

The assembled heroes looked at one another in stunned silence, not a sound to be heard. Ye Fan had truly been brazen to the heavens — right before everyone’s eyes, he had stamped Wang Teng’s younger brother to death.

Yao Guang the Holy Son, Yao Xi, the Great Xia Prince, the Holy Maiden of Jade Lake, Ji Haoyue, Yan Ruyu, and other old acquaintances were all present. Every one of them was shaken.

Young cultivators from the Central Continent, the Southern Ridge, the Western Desert, and other great regions were here as well, all of them deeply rattled inwardly. To stamp someone to death right before Wang Teng’s eyes — how many people would have the nerve?

Even veteran figures and the overlords of entire territories were alarmed. The current Northern Emperor could contend with the various Holy Masters — he was a rising figure feared by all, a dragon among men, and there were precious few who dared provoke him.

Yet Ye Fan had done it anyway, with complete disregard for all consequences, stamping Wang Chong dead with a single foot, ending the life of this demon prodigy of terrifying talent.

“Truly without a shred of restraint — he actually stamped Wang Teng’s younger brother to death with one foot!”

“That took real courage — how many people in the world would dare do the same?”

“What a pity for this little demon prodigy. Though his character was lacking, his cultivation talent was rare in all of history. Not yet twelve years old, and already a powerful cultivator at the Eighth Dragon Transformation — something almost unseen since ancient times.”

“That demon prodigy from the Eastern Desolation is too bold — he really will kill anyone. Even if a holy man’s younger brother came along and treated him that way, he would probably cut them down too.”

Every person present — whether old-generation sect masters or demon prodigies from the Five Regions — could not help but draw a sharp intake of breath.

“You…”

“Damn you — you actually killed our master’s younger brother!”

The two primordial ancient creatures went berserk. They surged forward to kill, their bodies seeming to burst into flame. Their scales rang like drawn swords, and ten thousand blades launched outward — every fine scale was a holy sword.

Ye Fan wore a cold smile, utterly unafraid. He made no other movement — only stepped forward, dodging with a powerful stomp.

Boom!

Suddenly, a surge of green energy boiled up from the ground. Dragon-shaped pillars of energy shot into the sky, one after another, like pillars holding up the heavens — dragon power like an ocean, cutting off the path of the two ancient creatures.

“The Qinling Mountains’ ancient great dragon has emerged!”

The dragon-vein geomancers from the Central Continent all changed color, letting out cries of shock. Ou Yang Ye and others from the Eastern Desolation who came from lineages in the arts of source techniques all changed expression as well.

“No — it is one breath of the Qinling ancient great dragon’s life essence!”

Every unusual expert who had studied the veins of mountains and rivers was astonished. This kind of technique was terrifying — it required an extraordinarily high level of esoteric arts to summon the true dragon’s life essence.

Ye Fan remained composed and unperturbed, standing there undaunted by the crowd. He had spent more than a month here studying the terrain, and had long since seen through everything. Using the arts of source techniques, he could now contend with even the most supreme Holy Masters.

In this place, he stood on unassailable ground — he could draw upon the power of the Qinling Mountains’ ancient great dragon and use it for himself. By now, he had already stirred the ancestral root of the earth vein.

“Oh!”

Ye Fan was surprised. In the distance, a flash of light caught his eye — Wang Chong was painfully reassembling his shattered body, beginning to take form once more. On his brow was a divine talisman, flowing with extraordinary radiance.

“No wonder Wang Teng didn’t come over — I was wondering about that. He actually had a life-protecting divine talisman like this!” Ye Fan strode over and brought another foot down.

Hum!

The divine talisman flickered, trembling lightly, drawing Wang Chong back a full hundred zhang. A golden force flowed over the talisman’s surface, and faintly within it, the silhouette of Wang Teng’s image could be made out.

“That is Wang Teng’s Nine-Revolutions Divine Talisman — imperishable through ten thousand calamities. He truly dotes on Wang Chong, to have passed it on to him for his protection.” From within the crowd, someone cried out in astonishment.

“What — the Nine-Revolutions Divine Talisman truly exists in this world?!” Everyone was thrown into shock.

Every gaze fixed upon that talisman. Less than an inch in length, it appeared to be cast from true gold, flowing with divine luminance, carrying an ancient resonance, its surface covered in the markings of the Dao.

The Nine-Revolutions Divine Talisman had been refined and consecrated by the one and only Chaos Ancient Emperor of the Northern Plains. It could substitute for its bearer and die in their place — possessing the miraculous power to steal the creative force of heaven and earth. It was a sacred object of bodily protection.

From this, it was not difficult to see just how extraordinary Wang Teng’s fortune had been — he had even obtained the divine talisman of the Chaos Ancient Emperor, and in all likelihood had long since received the man’s full inheritance.

“They say the Nine-Revolutions Divine Talisman was shattered — how has it appeared in the world again?”

“Though it is but a remnant of the Nine-Revolutions Divine Talisman, it was nonetheless consecrated by a human race Great Emperor — it still possesses the divine effect of imperviousness to death!”

The eyes of everyone present reddened with envy. Wang Teng truly possessed extraordinary fortune to have obtained such a heaven-defying sacred object — and he had given it away without a second thought to his younger brother.

“Could the Northern Emperor have obtained the complete inheritance of the Chaos Ancient Emperor?”

That ancient emperor’s power had shaken antiquity and dazzled the present, supremely terrifying beyond all measure. No one knew the depths of his power — legend had it he may have had another origin entirely.

Ye Fan’s heart leapt. A divine talisman refined and consecrated by a remote ancient Great Emperor — even a mere fragment of it was a priceless sacred object. Using the great earth dragon energy to cut off the two ancient creatures, he killed his way forward.

In that instant, many people envied him. Others feared the Northern Emperor and dared not move to seize the talisman. But he acted with reckless abandon, intent on killing Wang Chong and taking the talisman.

“Elder brother, save me!” The little demon prodigy screamed in terrified desperation.

In the distance, Wang Teng was locked in a fierce battle with the Central Emperor with no clear advantage for either side. Four great sacred creatures surrounded him — a true dragon soaring through the nine heavens, a divine phoenix crying over mountains and rivers, a white tiger roaring at the moon, a black tortoise spanning the seas. He was like the Ziwei Great Emperor descended into the mortal world.

At this moment, he could not afford to divide his attention. The Central Emperor was striking with great, sweeping movements — each technique and each form carried the balanced, upright force of the righteous path, possessing the power to transform decay into the miraculous.

Yet at this critical moment, the Northern Emperor still managed to launch a sword strike from within the battle. A golden holy sword flew out, radiating the divine might of the Celestial Emperor. Dragon and phoenix energies coiled around it, and it stretched several hundred zhang in length.

Boom!

Source-sky vein patterns surfaced beneath Ye Fan’s feet. Dragon energy beneath the earth erupted like a volcanic explosion — one after another, a full eighty-one celestial dragons surged upward, causing everyone present to stumble back in shock.

Clang!

Ye Fan activated the Foot-Treading Word Technique, pressing close to Wang Chong in an instant. One great hand reached out, coming down overhead in a crashing blow.

Boom!

The little demon prodigy’s body shattered once again. The Nine-Revolutions Divine Talisman was torn from his brow. Ye Fan caught it in his hand, where it gleamed with a warm, lustrous radiance against his palm.