Deep in the mountains, apes howled and tigers roared, strange beasts ran wild, and all manner of fierce birds circled overhead—some resembling azure dragons yet bearing feathered wings, others like divine phoenixes yet covered in crimson scales, a scene straight out of prehistory.

This was the wild tribe’s settlement, hidden deep within one of Nanling’s great mountain ranges. The creatures they faced day to day were all extraordinarily terrifying and powerful, and it was precisely this that had forged bodies capable of sending the entire tribe into battle as one.

“Smells so good…”

Li Tian’s nose twitched. Over the fire hung a roc bird, which even with its golden feathers stripped away still measured over twenty meters—brought down by Dongfang Ye himself.

By now it had been divided into hundreds of portions, with many children and elders gathered together around the different fires, enjoying the roc meat.

The golden divine feathers still carried a flowing radiance, a terrifying power that proved just how formidable this bird had been in life—yet now it had become a dish on the platter.

Oil dripped down, sizzling as it hit the flames, the fragrant roasted meat irresistibly tempting. Rubbed with salt and various seasonings, it turned a rich golden-brown, its aroma growing even more intense.

Some of the tribe’s elders cracked open several jars of aged wine, the smell of roc meat mingling with the fragrance of liquor, making mouths water uncontrollably.

Ye Fan sat together with a group of tribal elders, discussing the great matter of the campaign against the Northern Plains. Both sides talked animatedly, eating meat in great mouthfuls and drinking wine by the bowlful.

Occasionally, when one of the tribal elders grew merry with drink, he would tear off meat from the grill with one hand while swinging his great club with the other, shouting that he’d stomp every unhatched mouse pup of the Wang clan to death and beat every last drop of yellow bile out of those bastards.

“I’m telling you, brother, you grew up eating this kind of wild game? Truly better than being an immortal!” Li Tian tore off a large chunk of golden, glistening roc meat, washed it down with a great gulp of aged wine, feeling so wonderful he nearly floated away.

“This roc meat isn’t something we eat often—you have no idea how hard it is to bring one down. Though it’s a strange bird that never took the path of transformation, it still ranks alongside a formidable figure; we rarely provoke one.” Dongfang Man said.

“This roc meat really is exquisite—I could stay in your tribe forever and never want to leave.” Li Tian wiped his mouth.

Not far off, the ancient village’s Fifth Granduncle was competing with a group of tribal old men over aged wine, and upon hearing this, laughed and said, “Man’er started craving roc meat since he was little. At five years old he climbed a cliff face to steal roc eggs and nearly got trapped in the nest by an adult roc—lucky for him we were right behind him.”

“What a blessed childhood indeed—raiding roc nests as a small child. That’s certainly not an ordinary experience.” Li Tian marveled, finding it utterly wild.

“My brother liked catching flood dragons. We used to have many deep pools where we lived, and he started poking around there when he was very small. By the time he was in his teens, he’d regularly dive into the pools to capture wild dragons.” Dongfang Man said.

“What kind of people are these—raiding roc nests, catching wild dragons in deep pools? Why does it feel to me like catching sparrows or scooping up loaches? You two had a seriously abnormal childhood.” Li Tian couldn’t help but admit defeat.

“Awooo, awooo…”

Not far away, a group of wild children, eight or nine years old, came whooping over, swinging from vines to leap from one cliff to another, more agile than monkeys.

“There’s roc meat! Oh, and flood dragon meat too—wonderful!” These children moved like they were flying, scaling rocks and leaping through trees, quickly arriving at the scene.

“AWOOO…” A great roar shook the mountains, and a colossal creature swept across the sky, casting a vast shadow upon the ground.

It was a terrifying being resembling an azure dragon, yet bearing a pair of wings, densely covered in scales, each wing large enough to blanket an entire mountain.

“What kind of monster is that—it’s terrifying!” Li Tian nearly dropped the jar of aged wine in his hand.

“What a terrifying presence—how many in this world today could match this creature?” Yan Yixi felt a chill run through her as well.

Even Ye Fan’s expression changed, staring fixedly up at the sky. Though this place resembled a prehistoric world, filled with all manner of strange ancient birds and monsters, this one was simply too powerful, leaving even him unsettled.

“No need to worry—that’s one of our tribe’s guardian beasts, raised by hand by the previous old clan chief.”

Though it was not a true azure dragon, it carried azure dragon blood in its veins, and had now lived some three thousand nine hundred years—a single roar could shake ten thousand mountains, terrifying beyond measure.

Time was merciless—that old clan chief had entered a state of transcendent stillness two thousand years ago, yet this strange beast still lived, its vital energy still flourishing, showing no sign of aging.

“Now this is truly a guardian god worthy of the name, a living legend. Damn it, if that bastard Yin Tiande dares chase us here, we’ll let the azure dragon bite him to death!” Li Tian said.

He began wandering about, hoping to catch sight of any other strange beasts—this ancient tribe was truly mysterious, possessing such a terrifying guardian spirit. If they brought this creature to the Northern Plains, it would surely sweep through everything in their path.

Dongfang Man laughed good-naturedly and said, “Are you looking for a guardian beast? There’s another one over there.” He pointed toward a pond ahead, where a large, jet-black stone sat, several yards long.

At that moment, several burly tribesmen were carrying over a large iron basin filled with roasted roc meat, its fragrance overpowering.

“A black tortoise!” Ye Fan was astonished—this was a terrifying dark divine turtle, bearing a dragon’s head, its back covered in a black shell. Catching the scent of meat, it slowly extended its head and began gnawing at the food.

“Such an enormous turtle, truly rare. Is it really a guardian spirit? Even a demon turtle that’s grown for a thousand years could reach this size—doesn’t seem quite right.” Li Tian said skeptically, then added in a low voice: “This thing, growing this big, must be packed with pure essence throughout its body—wouldn’t eating it be incredibly nourishing?”

Dongfang Man whispered, “Don’t say such things carelessly. This turtle arrived at our tribe over two thousand years ago already looking like this. When the old clan chief of that time discovered it, he ordered us to care for it properly, never to neglect it.”

“Why treat it this way?” Even Ye Fan grew curious.

One of the tribal elders said, “The old clan chief at the time said it closely resembled the turtle from legend—the one raised by a clan chief from a very distant era.”

“Surely not—that strange?!” Even Yan Yixi was moved.

“It’s not certain. The old clan chief said it might be a descendant of that turtle, of the same lineage. Either way, we’re not to harm it, just to treat it well.”

Not long after, Ye Fan and the others heard a tiger’s roar, and the entire mountain forest scattered with flying leaves as a mountain-sized white tiger flashed by in the distance and vanished.

That was another of the tribe’s guardian beasts, raised by a deceased forebear of great talent. It had learned the breathing techniques of the ancient savage martial scripture, and had lived some three thousand five hundred years.

Unfathomably deep—this was Ye Fan’s immediate impression. This ancient wild tribe truly was mysterious, so overwhelmingly powerful—no wonder it was said that in primordial times, all of Nanling had belonged to their domain.

Over the following days, Ye Fan continued discussing matters with the tribal elders, for attacking an ancient formidable clan was far too significant an undertaking—one that could easily lead to mountains of corpses, with no telling how many would die.

“Sacred Body, get over here and kneel before your death!”

On this day, in Phoenix City, one of Nanling’s ten great ancient cities, someone shouted these words, and they spread across the entire southern region.

“Has someone finally come?”

Ye Fan had once declared that he would sit in Nanling, waiting calmly for every great enemy under heaven to come and kill him, ready to take them all on. Many days later, someone had finally come.

“They’re nearly ready to march into the Northern Plains—at a moment like this, you’re going to go answer this challenge?” Yan Yixi asked.

“That’s exactly the point—I want the eyes of the entire world fixed on Nanling, so that every enemy focuses their plans here, sending their best fighters to deal with me, while overlooking everything else.” Ye Fan said.

With the assault on the Northern Plains imminent, he wanted to draw all his enemies’ attention to Nanling, so that afterward he could strike into the Northern Plains alongside the wild tribe’s army, a single thunderous blow, swift as lightning, too fast to cover one’s ears.

“Tie down every scheming enemy, have them mass their troops here in Nanling, only to grasp at empty air, while we slip away to attack the Wang Family.” Yan Yixi nodded.

“Sacred Body, kneel and die!”

This was arrogance and ignorance taken to the extreme, as though the speaker had lost all reason. In the present world, with no supreme king having yet emerged in full mastery, no one should have been able to humiliate Ye Fan like this.

Whoever dared curse and shout like this left even Li Tian, that wicked rogue, rarely turning grim, declaring he would help Ye Fan rip off this person’s head and use it as a chamber pot.

Nanling buzzed with noise, the eyes of the entire world converging on Phoenix City, everyone wanting to know who could be this reckless.

As expected, it was indeed someone from the Northern Plains Wang Family—Wang Chengtian had arrived, a figure not particularly advanced in years, yet one who had stood firmly at the ninth minor step of the second heavenly tier of the Immortal Platform for many years already, a truly terrifying figure.

It was he who had ordered this shouting, desperate to force Ye Fan to show himself immediately, so he could seize and strip his soul, torturing him to death by the cruelest methods.

For the head of a clan to be beheaded was a humiliation beyond words, a disgrace before the entire world—more severe even than slapping every member of the Wang Family across the face.

Since ancient times, save during periods of dark upheaval and the calamity of broken sects, never once had a supreme lord been slapped and beaten to death on the ground by another.

“Sacred Body, kneel and die!” In the end, Wang Chengtian shouted these words himself. He intended to humiliate Ye Fan in the grandest, most prosperous city of all, forcing him to have no choice but to show himself.

He acted with such fearless confidence because he had brought along a primordial sacred weapon—against any opponent, even a king who came without a comparable weapon would find no place to even bury his own corpse.

“You surnamed Ye, won’t come out, is that it? Then let me tell you—when my clan hunted down and killed several of your old friends, I personally took part, hunting them down like homeless dogs fleeing in desperation. Today I’ve come again to behead you.” An even more excessive taunt rang out, Wang Chengtian’s voice carrying across all of Phoenix City, insulting both Ye Fan and his departed friends—and who knew how many great powers were watching closely.

“For him to dare shout like this, he must have something to rely on.” Yan Yixi said. They had already arrived in Phoenix City, guessing that the Northern Plains Wang Family had likely come this time bearing an ancient sage’s killing formation, or else had brought along a sacred weapon.

“Go meet him. Give him a surprise.” Ye Fan said, the Divine Maiden Furnace crystal-clear in his palm, radiating a strange, otherworldly luster.

Wang Chengtian himself was cold and aloof by nature, not one who enjoyed idle chatter, his hands folded behind his back, utterly fearless, an ancient sacred weapon held close within his robes, ready to unleash a strike at any moment.

“I suddenly find it far too dull to simply kill you this way. That old village—weren’t you trying to protect them? Today, right before your eyes, I’ll destroy every single one of them.”

He gave Ye Fan no time to consider, stepping onto an array platform along with several others, crossing through the void and vanishing from Phoenix City.

Ye Fan did not hesitate, following after along with Yan Yixi and Li Tian, likewise crossing through and vanishing. All three of them held some anticipation—if luck favored them, they might well come away with a sacred weapon.

Phoenix City fell into great chaos, with no telling how many people were watching, but since both sides had departed this way, people quickly began constructing array platforms, eager to witness this extraordinary battle.

Wang Chengtian stood facing off against Ye Fan and the others, sneering coldly: “Is it that mountain village in the ancient ridge up ahead? I’ll erase it!”

At that very moment, he launched his attack—a purple-gold hammer flew up, transforming into a bolt of searing lightning that struck at Ye Fan, its might overwhelming, boundless!

“BOOM!”

All around, mountains collapsed, divine power surging like an ocean, and in the distance the ancient village was instantly reduced to ash!

Such was the might of a sacred weapon—though incomplete, it remained terrifyingly boundless, as though the end of the world had come.