No one had anticipated that they would open with the most savage and primal form of close-quarters combat — a bloodbath so brutal it was difficult to watch.

This was a clash of flesh between the Ancient Emperor’s bloodline and the Human Race’s Holy Body — a contest to determine which constitution was superior, which physique stood a cut above the other, and in this very moment, the answer was being revealed.

“Pfft!”

Blood erupted in a violent spray. Yuangu’s towering frame was cleaved clean in two, sent flying in a shower of crimson rain — a sight that nearly stopped the hearts of countless beings from the various clans of Taikoo.

How could this be? The Ancient Emperors of Taikoo had lorded over all creation with their physiques — invincible, capable of sweeping across the Three Thousand Realms, reversing the Six Paths of Reincarnation, omnipotent beyond measure.

His bloodline descendant was matchless in all the world, the equivalent of a reborn Yuan Emperor in his youth, and yet he was here to contest the Human Race’s Holy Body — so how had it come to this terrifying scene?

“Yuangu has been cleaved in two by a living person!”

Both the ancient clans and the human cultivators erupted into an uproar, unable to believe what lay before their eyes.

The Ancient Emperors of Taikoo could suppress the heavens with a single hand, looking down upon ten thousand ages. After attaining the Dao, they rarely encountered anyone worthy of their effort — they were the very pinnacle of strength.

Yuangu carried the blood of the Yuan Emperor flowing within him; all the ancient clans knew this. His physical body represented immortality — no one could match him in a contest of raw flesh, save for another Ancient Emperor’s son. Yet this Human Race’s Holy Body, one they had not fully reckoned with, had actually managed it. Could it be that this constitution born among the human race could truly contend with the Yuan Emperor in his youth?

Qixia Plain erupted into chaos. The ancient clans of Taikoo were thrown into panic — when had the human race become so terrifying, so far beyond what they had been before? Were these the same people as that once-frail race of old?

“Boom!”

Suddenly, Ye Fan’s body also exploded. With his chest as the epicenter — the very place Yuangu had punched clean through — a total collapse occurred, and his golden sacred blood sprayed outward, a sight that seared the eyes.

The crowd cried out in alarm. Both men had their physical bodies destroyed — this was too cruel, a mutual devastation where neither emerged unscathed.

“Ye Fan!”

Li Heishui, Dongfang Ye, Li Tian, and the others cried out in shock. This was far too brutal — opening with shattered physical bodies — and it filled everyone with deep concern. After all, this was the Human Race’s Holy Body, whose flesh was supposed to be peerless.

“The bloodline of the Ancient Emperor of Taikoo is truly incomparable — capable of shattering even the Human Race’s Holy Body. Terrifying,” the Black Emperor muttered to himself.

“Xiao Yezi…” Ji Ziyue cried out, her mouth agape, her large eyes brimming with tears. Her heart was gripped with panic — as a descendant of an Ancient Great Emperor herself, she understood all too well how frightening such a bloodline inheritance could be, for her own clan’s records concerning “Emperor’s Sons” were abundantly clear.

“Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel — illuminate my immortal body!”

Across Qixia Plain, a deep and thunderous roar rang out, like an ancient malevolent spirit returning from the void, breaking free of its shackles, bursting forth from the depths of hell.

Between Yuangu’s two severed halves, a resplendent and crystalline treasure wheel appeared — untainted by even a speck of dust, radiating imperishable light. The two halves of his body swiftly fused together, and in an instant, he was reborn.

One of the Yuan Emperor’s secret arts — the Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel!

Drawing upon the magnificent power of heaven and earth to reforge oneself, to achieve immortality, to reign supreme over the world, indestructible through ten thousand tribulations.

The crowd drew sharp breaths. How could anyone fight against this? A cultivator’s most precious possession is their life, yet Yuangu’s bloodline was peerless, and now with a secret art such as this, he was simply impossible to defeat.

On the other side, a chain of order divine energy appeared, linking all the scattered flesh and sacred blood together with a resonating clatter, weaving itself into a thread of life’s principle.

The golden blood that had sprayed outward reversed its course. Every fragment of flesh flew back in reverse, merging together — Ye Fan’s physical body reunited, becoming whole once more.

“Boom!”

Divine radiance billowed outward from every pore, and a flawless physical body was restored. Golden blood energy filled the sky; he had returned to his peak condition — a sight that equally stunned the onlookers.

Both men were unharmed. In an instant, both were alive and vigorous once more, their battle intent soaring even higher, radiating boundless light as though to drown out heaven and earth!

“Human Race’s Holy Body — you have truly exceeded my expectations!” Yuangu roared.

“You, on the other hand, have not exceeded mine,” Ye Fan shot back, meeting him head on.

A world-shaking, earth-shattering clash unfolded.

“Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel!” Yuangu’s words were cold and detached, like an echo resounding from an ice cellar — each syllable reverberating across Qixia Plain.

Above his head, the treasure wheel appeared once more, flying out from within his body. It illuminated its master with imperishable light and cast the light of decay upon his enemies — one of the Yuan Emperor’s divine arts, near impossible to counter.

“Ahhh…”

Wherever the Yuan Light passed, countless people’s eyes bled as they recoiled in terror. Even at a distance of dozens of li, the effect was this severe — one could only imagine the dreadful might up close.

“Whoosh!”

Ye Fan vanished from where he stood. A secret art from the Heavenly Court Slaughter Scripture activated, transforming him into a god of slaughter — the entire expanse of heaven and earth turned to the color of blood, killing intent pervading every corner.

“The Yuan Light treasure wheel illuminates the Ten Thousand Realms — you cannot escape it!” Yuangu growled, the radiant disc hovering above his head, illuminating all ten directions as the void continuously annihilated around it.

Like a divine furnace with a roaring blaze, standing amidst a frozen wasteland, consuming all frost and snow in its path — while it alone endured eternally.

“When have I ever tried to escape?” A frigid voice rang out at his side. Ye Fan extended two fingers held together like a blade and cleaved downward.

“Pfft!”

One of Yuangu’s arms fell away, blood spraying in a torrent — yet he did not even blink, his expression unmoved. He said: “The blood of the Yuan Emperor never flows without purpose.”

The void trembled. The Yuan Light treasure wheel descended, illuminating every last droplet of blood, transforming them into a vast sea of crimson that entrapped Ye Fan within its depths.

A single grain of sand contains a world — this was a secret art, one that only those of extraordinary capability could execute.

Drop by drop, the blood linked together to form a boundless ocean. All of Qixia Plain became a sea of blood. Yuangu sat cross-legged at its center, the Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel hovering above his head, as he began to silently recite incantations — intending to refine Ye Fan within it.

“The Dao begets One; One begets Two; Two begets Three; Three begets the ten thousand things…”

A green lotus swayed, its roots anchored in the sea of blood, accompanying Ye Fan — he too sat cross-legged, swathed in primordial mist. The three-leafed Bitter Sea Green Lotus, as though born of the Dao itself, drew upon the power of the blood sea to refine Yuangu in return.

Yuangu let out a cold snort and snapped his eyes open. Cradling the Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel in his palms, he projected a beam of lethal radiance, driving it down to suppress Ye Fan — in all ten directions, the heavenly vault crumbled as ceaseless rumbling resounded without end.

Amid the resonance of Dao-song, a Celestial King rose up behind Ye Fan, seated high above the nine-layered heavens, gazing down upon the vast earth. He stretched out one enormous hand to press down from above, sweeping to obliterate the Yuan Light treasure wheel.

A metallic ringing rang out — as if a hundred thousand heavenly swords had been unsheathed simultaneously. Every beam of death light discharged by the Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel stretched for dozens to hundreds of zhang, slashing toward the Celestial King.

Ye Fan let out a great roar. His true body and the Celestial King merged into one. He held a green lotus in his hand and strode down from those nine-layered heavens, swinging the three-leafed Dao Lotus to shatter all hundred thousand heavenly swords entirely — a ringing resonance that lingered without cease.

He gripped the green lotus and struck it against the Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel, producing a sound like cracking shell. The Yuan Light dimmed, as though it were disintegrating, and black beams of death light scattered outward.

Yet the three-leafed Dao Lotus in Ye Fan’s hand, as though born of the Dao itself, was wreathed in threads of primordial mist that blocked every shred of black radiance — the lotus growing ever more lush and verdant.

“Crack!”

Fissures spread across the Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel. Then, with a sharp burst, it shattered — for it had been transformed from the Dao principle, its formation and dissolution without fixed form, and it could be manifested again — yet Yuangu’s expression shifted all the same.

“Smack!”

Ye Fan, merged with the Celestial King, swung the green lotus in a rapid succession of strikes, lashing them across Yuangu’s body. Powerful as his emperor-blooded physique was, it could not withstand this onslaught — nearly splitting apart, he was sent tumbling head over heels several times in a row.

These were no ordinary wounds — they had been left by the Dao Lotus and would be extremely difficult to heal. He coughed up several mouthfuls of dark blood and retreated swiftly, manifesting the Reincarnation Wheel to mend his injuries.

“Divine Domain!”

Yuangu let out a thunderous roar to stabilize his faltering momentum. His body discharged hundreds of millions of threads of brilliant radiance, transforming into a divine domain — within this space of ten zhang, he was as a god. Heaven and earth obeyed his command, and all things answered to him alone.

“Whoosh!”

Ye Fan retreated, and from head to toe, he also blazed with boundless light. A golden circular domain appeared — his exclusive sacred domain activated, repelling all techniques, leaving him standing sovereign within it.

Both men stood within their respective domains, radiating hundreds of millions of divine rays that illuminated every inch of the void, rendering this expanse of heaven and earth ablaze with brilliance and splendor. Both appeared incomparably sacred and majestic.

“Boom!”

The great battle resumed. The two divine domains collided in a devastating clash, and a fierce exchange began. They transformed into two bolts of lightning — wherever they passed, great mountains and rivers crumbled, leaving devastation in their wake.

Mountain ranges collapsed like paper, brittle and incapable of withstanding a single blow. They fought their way from Qixia Plain deep into the wilderness, as though establishing a separate cosmos — obliterating all the old order. Range after range of mountains was sent flying, shattered to pieces as the shockwaves hurled them into the heavens above.

The battle between the two men spread far and wide, pulling at the hearts of every onlooker. People followed along, watching from behind with anxious attention. This battle had raged from the rosy hues of early dawn all the way to noon — over a thousand exchanges had already passed.

Brilliant radiance, dazzling light, mysterious Dao principles — they surged forth in endless succession, one after another, dazzling the eye with their intricacy and profundity, a display of techniques without limit.

“Zing!”

A single clear ring pierced through all light, all sound. A divine sword, barely an inch in length, appeared between Yuangu’s brows — brilliant and blinding, resonating with a metallic peal.

“What — is that the sword of a saint, or some ancient emperor’s secret weapon?”

All present shifted expressions, for they felt a strange power — though the divine sword had not yet moved, its sword-wave had already obliterated boundless mountains and rivers.

In all directions, no one knew how many mountains and ranges had been reduced to fine powder, transformed into desert — forever ceasing to exist. The killing intent had extinguished all life here, turning this place into barren wasteland.

“It is not a weapon — it is a secret art from the scriptural texts composed by the Yuan Emperor himself: the Yuan Emperor Dao Sword!” spoke one of the royals from Primordial Lake, coldly and with absolute certainty.

This was not a weapon but rather a manifestation of an order divine principle given physical form — upon solidifying, it took the shape of a sword, yet its essence was the Dao itself, and so it was called the Yuan Emperor Dao Sword. Its destructive power shook the ancient and illuminated the present, boundless in its terror.

“At last it appears — this must be a forbidden wonder from the scriptural texts left by the Yuan Emperor. All who have ever witnessed it in the past perished,” one of the ancient beings muttered to themselves.

“Pfft!”

And indeed — nothing could halt it. The barely-inch-long Yuan Emperor Dao Sword tore through all resistance like a withered stump, piercing clean through the golden sacred domain and embedding itself into Ye Fan’s shoulder, passing straight through and trailing a vast shower of golden sacred blood in its wake.

“Clang!”

The Yuan Emperor Dao Sword flew free, then reversed course and descended in a straight vertical cleave. Ye Fan reached out with both hands to catch the sword, intending to break it by force.

Yet the brilliant Dao Sword barely an inch in length was no solid object — in that instant it transformed into a chain of order divine energy, shattering the void, and nearly severed Ye Fan’s hands by reducing them to a part of its principle, leaving him drenched in blood.

The Soldier Character Secret Art!

Ye Fan pressed both hands together, releasing a cascade of brilliant radiance — with a resounding “clang,” he merged with the Dao Sword and wielding it directly, lunged toward Yuangu, becoming a divine streak of light.

Yuangu roared, his hair in wild disarray, forming divine seals to blast outward as he declared: “You underestimate the Yuan Emperor Dao Sword far too much!”

Ye Fan’s hands were dissolving beneath the Dao Sword, yet his own principle had manifested as well — the Soldier Character Secret Art not only temporarily held back the Yuan Emperor Dao Sword, but transformed his very self into a weapon.

“You—!” Yuangu let out a great shout.

Like an unrivaled heavenly sword, Ye Fan passed straight through Yuangu’s body, erupting in a torrent of dark blood.

The Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel appeared. Ye Fan reached out one enormous hand to seize it, and brought one enormous foot stamping downward, his body blazing with boundless light — denying Yuangu the chance to reincarnate. With a dull “pfft,” he planted his foot upon Yuangu’s shattered chest and descended upon the earth, stomping Yuangu’s body into four, five pieces.