“This is bad!” The people of Primordial Lake all changed color. The aura Ye Fan now projected filled them with alarm — his heart must have been filled with an unconquerable belief. This was not any kind of good sign.
I will let you resurrect — and slay you each time you do, until your will collapses — to speak such words openly, one could only imagine the depth of confidence behind them.
Many could not help but change color, and a good number grew restless. This was the bloodline of an Ancient Emperor of Taikoo — and yet someone dared face it with such an attitude, treating it as what, exactly?
“This is what the road to Dao attainment demands — with me, none stand. Whether kings or Ancient Emperor’s sons, even a reborn emperor in his youth — whoever stands in my path shall be struck down with a single fist. The road of the Ancient Great Emperors has always been paved with white bones and crimson blood,” the Saint of Tianxuan Stone Workshop murmured to himself.
Yuangu reincarnated, the veins at his temples throbbing furiously, his hair standing on end in wild fury. Being slain multiple times today had bottled a rage within him that he had nowhere to release. Such was his pride and his standing — and yet he had been struck down repeatedly.
“Ahhhh…”
He let out a long, howling cry that set the nine heavens thundering as though the vault of the sky itself would come crashing down. He unleashed every secret art he possessed — yet none could withstand the might of the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist. He was sent tumbling through the air, coughing great mouthfuls of blood.
“Bang!”
In the end, the Yuan Emperor Dao Sword was shattered once more — the chains of order collapsed, falling like pearls of light strung upon a thread, tracing arc after arc of flowing radiance.
“Pfft!”
Yuangu cried out and was slain together with the Dao Sword for the third time by Ye Fan’s assault, dissolving into a flash of blood-light that fled several hundred zhang away, reborn through the Yuan Light Reincarnation Wheel.
In this world, every technique has its price. He had resurrected himself, yet at the cost of a portion of his foundation — several threads of vitality drained from his face, his luster dimming ever so slightly.
Between his brows, thread after thread of dark blood seeped out, staining his face crimson — and the Yuan Emperor Dao Sword flickered and was gone, no longer manifesting. For the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist had suppressed it; deploying it again was pointless. This forbidden art had been completely broken.
“Kill!”
At this moment, every one of Ye Fan’s pores communed with heaven and earth, as boundless essence surged in to fill his body — radiating ten thousand zhang of brilliant light. Every swing of his fist seemed to command the very will of the Great Dao, unparalleled and incomparable — all ten directions of the heavenly vault moved in concert with his fists.
Yuangu’s expression shifted sharply. Though he produced secret art after secret art, he could not hold out — this fist technique was too overbearing. With me, none stand — however great one’s will and conviction, that was how fearsome the fist’s power became.
Especially those six blurred ancient worlds — every revolution carried a grinding force that could wear the world to nothing, crushing even Yuangu’s bones toward shattering.
“Pfft!”
Blood rained down as Yuangu was sent hurtling away by Ye Fan — a golden fist shattering the void, with nothing capable of stopping it.
“You truly do surprise me…” Yuangu said, every inch of bone within him reduced to powder, painstakingly restoring himself, slowly rising from the ground.
He realized that he had to break Ye Fan’s state of mind — otherwise he would only lose, never win. With this invincible conviction in place, the man seemed willing to cut down even gods if they appeared. This was a posture of absolute supremacy.
“Tap”… “Tap”…
Yuangu began to pace, moving like a black phantom — now left, now right — leaving only empty, desolate footfalls in the air. Heaven and earth darkened around him, strange and eerie beyond measure.
A black shadow drifted back and forth, like a ten-thousand-year-old malevolent ghost emerging from the depths, circling around Ye Fan without cease — as though it had just torn free from the depths of hell, ready to pounce and kill at any moment.
“Whoosh!”
Drawing on the Heavenly Court Slaughter Scripture’s record, Ye Fan launched a round of attacks like the return of a death god — vanishing abruptly from one place, appearing in another in an instant — an overwhelming offensive.
“Bang!”
The Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist was supreme and matchless, collapsing the void. Yuangu’s bones shattered and tendons snapped as he coughed great mouthfuls of blood — sent flying multiple times, nearly annihilated in an instant.
“To be forced even to this point by you…” He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression cold and detached — then suddenly jerked his head up, his pair of eyes turning incomparably terrifying.
His eyes deepened like the ocean. His left eye became a black sun, his right eye became a blood moon — devouring one’s divine soul, like a moth drawn irresistibly to flame, pulling one toward oblivion.
He stood still and silent, like a towering black devil’s mountain — as though capable of crushing this entire realm beneath it — filling all who looked upon him with dread.
A strange aura billowed outward, causing every onlooker in all ten directions to feel a chill seize their hearts, making them fall back several involuntary steps.
Yuangu’s aura had changed entirely — as though he had undergone a new birth, become a different person entirely — like a demonic god reborn, facing all of creation.
Then, suddenly, a metallic ring sounded out. Yuangu’s pair of eyes discharged flashes of light like electric sparks — like divine weapons humming softly — and in an instant, heaven and earth turned as black as ink.
Physical bodies — could not move.
Everyone was startled — even those standing dozens of li away felt it, unable to move a single step, frozen in place.
What had happened? This was the question in everyone’s hearts.
“Go!”
Certain peerless powerhouses among the crowd acted swiftly, sweeping a wide sleeve outward to carry the immobilized spectators away from the plain — sending them to safety in the distance, restoring their freedom.
“The final page — the Yuan Emperor’s forbidden secret art, composed before his final transcendence!”
In this moment, people were left nearly breathless, immediately grasping this possibility. Yuangu had severed the Dao at the third Celestial tier — he could not possibly have mastered only one technique from the Yuan Emperor Dao Sword. There had to be other divine arts.
Of course, the final secret art of an Ancient Emperor of Taikoo represented the crystallized essence of an entire lifetime — even a Great Saint could not comprehend all of it. Being able to study two or three techniques from it was the limit; any more was impossible.
At the center of the battlefield, Ye Fan found that his body had become very difficult to move — bound by some nameless force, an ominous aura stirring through him.
“Another forbidden art of the Yuan Emperor?”
He said this inwardly, not falling into panic — for the other man’s physical body had not moved a single step either. Only that pair of eyes had become ever more terrifying.
Heaven and earth grew darker and darker. At last, not a trace of light could be seen — not even the Heavenly Eye could fully penetrate it. Blurred and indistinct, the Dao principles had twisted space itself.
Yuangu’s cold and merciless voice rang out from the distance: “Forcing me to deploy even the Ancient Emperor’s forbidden art — even in death you may be proud.”
His left eye, transformed into a black sun, actually flew free of his face — pressing down like a great mountain. His right eye, transformed into a blood moon, erupted as well — a strange power surging and rushing forward, pressing toward Ye Fan in a lethal advance.
Ye Fan was startled. He was bound and restrained — unable to move a single step. How was he to meet this attack?
Then, in an instant, the divine light in his own eyes blazed brightly. The Origin Heaven’s Eye opened and saw thread upon thread of Dao principles, densely blanketing this place — sealing everything within it, including Yuangu’s own physical body. Only spiritual power could move.
Ye Fan let out a cold snort. The Origin Heaven’s Eye blazed with dazzling brilliance. Using his gaze, he traced Dao-pattern after Dao-pattern across the sky, drawing upon the source energy beneath the vast earth.
“Boom!”
The sealed void shook violently. Boundless flame rose up, refining both the black sun and blood moon together, surging toward Yuangu’s physical body.
“Primordial Desolate Realm!” Yuangu’s voice remained cold and detached. Unhurried and deliberate, he spoke those three words — each syllable ringing out like metal splitting stone.
In an instant the surroundings plunged into deeper darkness. All source energy vanished, cut off from the earth — and both of them found themselves within a primordial void, dim and without end.
It was like the ruins of a world — devastated and desolate, with only ruin remaining. Cold and still, empty of all else. Ye Fan realized that he was truly standing within a different realm of heaven and earth.
The final secret art of the Ancient Emperor was indeed unfathomable beyond measure — he had been stripped away from his surroundings and brought into the Primordial Desolate Realm, still utterly unable to move.
“Yuangu — you are afraid. In a contest of physical bodies, you were defeated at my hands — so now you wish to battle me in a contest of divine souls? I will grant you that wish, and crush your will into dust!”
“The battle has only begun — I have not lost at all. You cannot shake my conviction to attain the Dao — and you will die beneath my forbidden art!” Yuangu replied.
“Boom!”
A black sun took form, a blood moon accompanying it — both surged forward together, then the two blazed with boundless light and divine energy, transforming into a pair of humanoid figures.
The black sun cracked open. A man wearing black-gold battle armor stepped out, wielding a black iron halberd — with demonic might that could overawe the world, his dominance beyond all measure.
The blood moon cracked open. A young man clad in blood-red robes rushed out, a great crimson bell hovering above his head — tolling gently, suffused with blood-red primordial mist. Step by step he pressed forward, uncanny and transcendent beyond heaven’s reach.
These were manifestations of his divine consciousness, cultivated in secret within his eyes — transformed into two divine beings. No one had known. These were deities cultivated through the Yuan Emperor’s secret arts.
Ye Fan gave a cold laugh, completely unafraid. He had his own profound understanding of divine soul cultivation and was filled with confidence. A flash of brilliance between his brows — a golden miniature figure stepped forth in a single stride, clutching a four-ridged divine whip, roughly three chi in length, composed of twenty-six sections — each section bearing a mark of the Extreme Dao.
Using the physical shell as a waystation, using the ten thousand heavens as a journey, with the divine soul as the foundation — this was a secret method recorded in the scripture of the Divine Spirit Valley, which had greatly inspired him.
The golden miniature figure that emerged from between his brows wielded the Spirit-Striking Whip and transformed into a bolt of golden lightning, surging forward — aimed specifically at divine consciousness — attacking Yuangu.
“Clang!”
The great crimson bell tolled with a resonant peal, sending out ring after ring of rippling waves that severed divine consciousness — causing Ye Fan’s heart to lurch, his divine soul to destabilize, nearly collapsing.
He could not help but feel a chill — the other man’s divine soul offensive was truly exceptional. After steadying himself, the golden miniature figure swung the Spirit-Striking Whip and rushed forward — its might unparalleled, the fruit of countless trials and tribulations.
In those early days, his divine consciousness had been entirely unable to touch this whip — it had caused serious harm to his divine soul. But now it had become a special weapon for his divine soul — made specifically to serve his spirit self.
Ahead, the one who had emerged from the black sun — that figure wearing black-gold battle armor like a demonic god — flashed with dark golden radiance, raising the iron halberd that gleamed with dark light to intercept, blocking the Spirit-Striking Whip and producing a resonant metallic ring.
“What — you also possess a weapon for your divine soul?” Yuangu was clearly taken aback.
Ye Fan was equally stunned. The iron halberd held by the black-robed Yuangu, and the great bell hovering above the blood-robed Yuangu’s head, were both a kind of weapon specifically crafted to attack the divine soul — identical in nature to the Spirit-Striking Whip. They were secret treasures — their tier unknown.
A surge of towering shock rose in Yuangu’s heart. Such secret weapons were extremely difficult to forge, understood by few — specialized for striking at one’s divine soul, capable in most cases of landing an instant kill.
Ye Fan felt a shudder of dread, an involuntary chill rising within him. Had it been an ordinary person, they would have been reduced to ash in a single strike — Yuangu had prepared an absolute killing art specifically for him!
For he knew all too well what terrifying consequences weapons of the Spirit-Striking Whip’s kind would produce when they struck the divine soul. Not even a supreme celestial come to its rescue could save the victim.
Both men fought on — Yuangu’s divine consciousness birthed two divine beings in a single thought: one holding the black iron halberd, one with the crimson bell hovering overhead — one attacking, one defending, a formidable combination.
“Clang…”
Ye Fan fought with great difficulty. The weapons held by the two divine beings were inferior to the Spirit-Striking Whip, yet the other man possessed exceptional divine soul secret arts that could multiply their power many times over.
“One law mastered, ten thousand laws understood!”
After Ye Fan retreated some distance, a cold smile spread across his face and his mind cleared. Using his divine soul, he activated the Soldier Character Secret Art — attempting to seize the other man’s weapons.
“Clang!”
“Clang…”
The iron halberd rang sharply. The crimson bell resounded with a boom. Yuangu let out a startled cry and nearly suffered a devastating backlash — his tone turning ominous as he said: “Your secret art is truly exceptional — capable of commandeering and seizing any weapon whatsoever. It is fortunate I had taken precautions.”
He suppressed his two divine soul weapons, then the two divine beings dissolved back into a black sun and a blood moon, colliding against each other and weaving out chain upon chain of divine energy — blanketing the Primordial Desolate Realm.
Ye Fan shouted that this was bad. The golden miniature figure turned and retreated, the Spirit-Striking Whip in hand diving into the space between his brows — taking shelter within.
Within the Primordial Desolate Realm, chains of order principle blanketed every inch of space — all of them aimed at the divine soul. This was the equivalent of laying down a formation of absolute slaughter, terrifying beyond measure.
One had to understand: this was a secret art created by the Yuan Emperor himself. These divine chains would be the pinnacle of the Dao. With such a killing formation now complete — who could contend with it?
To have one’s divine soul trapped here was certain death. The Yuan Emperor’s final secret arts — each more formidable and terrifying than the last. This special secret realm was nothing less than a purgatory!
“I will see how you survive this. Human Race’s Holy Body — I will refine your sacred bones and skull into a gleaming wine cup, and keep it as my eternal treasure,” Yuangu said coldly from within the Primordial Desolate Realm.
“Actually — I feel the battle ought to come to an end as well. The path of the Great Emperor is littered with corpses, and today you shall become the first Ancient Emperor’s bloodline to fall at my feet, forging my road to Dao attainment!” Ye Fan roared back.