A crowd of people surged into the main hall, taking positions at different points to surround Ye Fan. All of them were clad in iron armor, gleaming with a cold, dark metallic sheen, each one holding a different sharp weapon, all radiating divine light.
In this day and age, if an outsider were to lay eyes on such attire, they would certainly be astonished. All of it was profoundly archaic — entirely out of place with the present world.
Ye Fan did not rise from his seat. He remained where he was, watching them calmly. The armor these people wore was lustrous, yet bore faint traces of age — marks of many eras past. The armor had been through it all.
In the ancient era, the great demons who had once roared through heaven and earth and could seize stars and grasp the moon had either perished or departed from this world. Yet they had still left behind a considerable number of ancient weapons for their descendants — a staggering treasury.
“You nearly killed Xiao Song, and now you want to come at me as well?” Ye Fan asked quietly.
“Have you forgotten where you are? Jiujiang is not somewhere anyone can force their way into and make a scene!” The elderly man who had reached the Divine Bridge realm held the divine spike, its dark light flickering ominously, and spoke in a cold voice.
With a light sweep of his hand, more than ten people in iron armor activated their weapons in unison. Wave after wave of rippling energy burst from those ancient weapons — spurting blades of sword energy that slashed toward Ye Fan.
They had deployed a formation. These ancient weapons were all spiritual artifacts — none of them individually extraordinary, but combined in this arrangement they served a profound purpose and could kill extremely powerful opponents.
None of those present could have devised such a formation on their own. The most powerful among them was at best the elderly man who had reached the Divine Palace secret realm. Everything before them — formation and all — had been left behind by their ancestors.
The sword energy was sharp and fierce, cutting through the void, weaving together into a dazzling formation of light that confined Ye Fan at its center. Slashing rays of radiance hacked down at him — and were shattered to fragments with a flick of his fingers.
“What sacred artifact do you carry?” The elderly man of the Divine Bridge realm was stunned and involuntarily stepped back. In this day and age, he did not believe anyone could shatter such a powerful formation with a single finger-flick.
With that flick of his fingers, Ye Fan’s golden blood-energy transformed into golden divine radiance — as though he held some ancient divine artifact in hand — inadvertently leading the others to misread the situation. For in their view, the present era could hardly produce a master of divine arts of this caliber. Or if one did exist, they would never come to call on their family.
“Truly worthy of an ancient lineage. What a formidable temper — so now you want to cut me down as well?” Ye Fan raised his hand and drew the young man who had been pinned to the wall back toward him.
“Fellow Daoist… let us speak reason. There was a misunderstanding before, and we are willing to offer compensation!” The young man had been sitting all relaxed and unconcerned earlier, confident that in his own clan’s territory no one could cause any real trouble. But now his composure had deserted him entirely.
“Xiao Song saved your life out of kindness, and you tried to kill it in return — is that the heart of a wolf and the lungs of a dog?” Ye Fan brought his palm down — in that instant the young man’s bones snapped and cracked throughout his body, dozens breaking at once.
Of course, he had not used full force. Otherwise, a single strike from a human race Holy Body would have turned the man to paste — sect leader or not.
“Ahhh…” The peculiarly featured young man screamed in pain, rolling about on the ground.
Ye Fan felt a faint surprise. Within this person’s body ran a thread of purple blood — the demon energy was thick. Though the young man was not particularly old, he had already reached the Well of Life realm — by Earth’s standards, that was far above ordinary.
No wonder the clan had been so protective of him — gifting him a sect-leader-level divine spike as a protective artifact. In this day and age, a talent like this was exceedingly rare and well worth the investment of effort to cultivate.
“Friend, please stay your hand — we can discuss everything!” The elderly man who had reached the Divine Palace realm stepped forward, a trace of anxiety in his expression. Even now he had not been able to make out what golden spiritual artifact Ye Fan held in his palm.
Earlier, they had deployed the formation to trap Ye Fan at its center, intending to execute him. Yet it had been completely useless — and moreover, even through the formation the young man had been seized and dragged in.
“Is there anything more to discuss? Jiujiang belongs to your clan — not just anyone can make trouble here. I have already offended you thoroughly.” Ye Fan smiled coldly.
He struck without mercy. With a single finger extended, the young man’s Sea of Bitterness was dissolved away entirely. Then another finger — his Immortal Platform collapsed. He would never be able to cultivate again.
With two fingers, Ye Fan had abolished his entire cultivation. Then, after a moment’s thought, with a sweep of his hand, the purple demon blood within the young man’s body was drawn out and refined to nothing on the spot.
“You… you are going too far!” The elderly man of the Divine Bridge realm was incensed. A promising seedling of the clan had been abolished right before everyone’s eyes — this was not merely a slap in the face to him as the grandfather. It was a slap in the face of the entire clan.
“I am going too far? You nearly killed Xiao Song. I came here seeking justice. You even wanted to cut me down while you were at it — what a commanding and lofty posture that was.” Ye Fan tossed the young man aside.
“Grandfather, help me kill him! My life is over — grind his bones to dust and scatter them to the winds!” The peculiarly featured young man screamed, his eyes venomous with hatred, cursing furiously.
Ye Fan saw this and gave a faint smile. He raised his finger and pressed it forward. With a soft sound, a ray of golden light pierced through the young man’s skull. A thread of fresh blood seeped out. The twisted expression on his face froze completely.
“I stripped away your cultivation to prevent you from doing further harm in the world. I had intended to spare your life. But since you show no remorse and refuse to repent, a nature like yours is not fit to remain.” Ye Fan said.
Everyone in the main hall changed color. In that instant they all fell back — the elderly man of the Divine Palace realm especially felt that something had gone terribly wrong. This young man before them — how was he so reminiscent of the legendary great masters of divine arts?
“No matter who you are, you will die here today — you are not walking out of Jiujiang! For so many years, no one has ever dared to provoke us of the Dragon Sparrow lineage.” The elderly man of the Divine Bridge realm bellowed.
The one who had just died was his grandson — a child he had doted on since birth. This outcome was not something he could accept. The group retreated from the main hall. He barked cold orders to his disciples outside, telling them to go and bring reinforcements. Clearly, by now even he had come to understand that Ye Fan was not easily dealt with.
Ye Fan had no interest in further words. With a light sweep of his hand through the air, he had not yet finished issuing his orders when the man’s soul was drawn out of him — in an instant burned to ash. The intact physical body fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Everyone drew in a sharp breath. They stood completely dumbstruck. In that moment they finally understood — they had very likely kicked a wall of iron this time. They might well have provoked a living ancestor.
“Just who is this impertinent brat — coming to our clan to make trouble?” An elderly woman appeared, leaning on a Dragon Sparrow staff. Her hair was snow-white, each strand gleaming crystalline. Her complexion was pale and rosy. No one could say how many years she had lived.
“Elder Ancestor!”
The crowd rushed forward to meet her — the elderly man of the Divine Palace realm especially stepped up quickly and said softly: “Grand Aunt, this is very bad. This person may possess divine arts from ancient times.”
Ye Fan remained seated in the hall and made no move to go out. Upon seeing this elderly woman, his heart stirred slightly — her cultivation had reached the third secret realm: the Four Extremities. He was genuinely surprised. Could there still be someone who had cultivated to such a level in this day and age?
“To think of our Dragon Sparrow clan — standing unbroken from the ancient era to this day. No one has ever dared come to Jiujiang to shame us. Today, I don’t care what manner of divine being you are — since you’ve come, don’t think of leaving!”
The elderly woman swung her walking staff. Inside the main hall, a surge of auspicious energy immediately arose. A piercing radiance broke through — a powerful formation appeared, seeking to refine and destroy Ye Fan.
The layout of this main hall had been carefully considered. The moment Ye Fan had entered, he had noticed it. The flooring was paved with demon blood stone, engraved with the marks of ages past — an ancient formation that had been moved here intact. The villa had been built upon this foundation. A cultivator who had reached the Transformation into a Dragon secret realm who strayed into it would be refined and killed.
When the Dragon Sparrow clan had led him into this main hall, they had already been calculating against him. If they came to blows and found themselves outmatched, the ancient formation would be their last resort to refine him to death.
Unfortunately for them, they had encountered a human race Holy Body who had returned from the Northern Dipper. They had no idea just how fearsome his cultivation was — or how terrifying his physical body. Not only this formation, but any formation more powerful than it would be equally useless against him.
Blazing flames roared. Brilliant light swirled and danced. Dragon Sparrows cried out one after another — born from fire, soaring up from the flames — engulfing Ye Fan. Xiao Song was terrified, gripping Ye Fan’s sleeve with all its might.
Ye Fan was wreathed in divine light, not treating any of this as the slightest cause for concern. He strolled about inside the hall, tapping and examining the walls, taking the measure of just which era this ancient formation came from — which left the people on the lawn outside staring with their mouths agape.
“He is… a great master of divine arts!” One of them swallowed hard.
“What era are we living in — how can there possibly still be… a person this powerful? Were they not all reduced to ashes and scattered, or gone from this world?” The shock within them was beyond measure.
“We are finished. This truly is a great calamity we have brought upon ourselves. We have provoked a being like this. He must be someone who survived from the ancient era!” Every last face had gone deathly pale.
With a flick of Ye Fan’s fingers, the formation was completely abolished. He stepped outside without haste, not a speck of dust on him — causing every single person to tremble involuntarily.
Everyone was shaking. A figure of such power was, by the standards of present-day cultivators, something that could only be called divine. Across the whole world, there were precious few such beings.
Ye Fan pressed forward. The people before him retreated without cease. There was nothing left to be said now. Their cultivation — measured against the man before them — amounted to nothing whatsoever.
“Is your clan not a little too arrogant? In this day and age, do you still want to hold Jiujiang as your own territory? What would the people of Jiujiang make of that?”
Ye Fan swept his hand. A clear radiance fell — and in that instant stripped the elderly woman of every last shred of her cultivation. The color drained instantly from her face.
“You refused to distinguish right from wrong and tried to refine me to death on the spot. Shed that cultivation of yours — be an ordinary person from now on.”
She was the most powerful elder ancestor in all their clan, and with a single raised hand someone had stripped away her entire cultivation, reducing her to an ordinary mortal body. Every last person was seized with cold terror — not one of them dared draw breath.
The elderly man of the Divine Palace realm trembled slightly. He stepped forward, bent at the waist in a bow and said: “We ask that our predecessor show mercy and forgive our ignorance.”
Ye Fan looked at him. This was the one who had first declared that Jiujiang was not somewhere just anyone could come to make trouble — who had said that Ye Fan was ignorant of his place and would not walk out of here alive.
“Since you read the situation quickly, I will cut only a hundred years of your cultivation.”
A flash of light passed. The elderly man staggered and nearly fell. His expression turned ghastly. A hundred years of cultivation stripped away — what would be left?
“I did not come here today intending to slaughter without end. If you had surrendered the culprit early, spoken reasonably and in good faith, none of this would have happened.” Ye Fan said.
These people trembled with fear, not one of them daring to speak. A being like this could walk freely under heaven — finding an equal across the whole world would be near impossible.
Ye Fan had no wish to go further. He made no move to trouble the others. He pressed two fingers together like a blade and cut open the lawn. Beneath it, a subterranean palace was revealed.
Purple energy from Mount Lu came flowing in, pouring down into the subterranean palace. At its center stood an ancient formation platform, covered in tracery and veined patterns, capable of transforming the essence of the earth’s veins into rich and concentrated energy that gathered within a ten-zhang radius.
“No wonder there is a cultivator of the Four Extremities secret realm…” Ye Fan nodded. The secret lay here. This ancient formation platform could transform the essence of heaven’s radiance and earth’s splendor into a resource the clan could draw upon for cultivation year after year.
Ye Fan came to a thorough understanding of this clan’s identity. Their founding ancestor had been a Dragon Sparrow — an ancient divine bird that had established a lineage during the era of the Great Xia dynasty. The blood of a demon-god flowed in these people’s veins.
“The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow…” Something felt peculiar to him. He thought of the legendary Great Xia Dragon Sparrow saber. Could it be connected to this clan?
And when he asked further questions, he learned that this clan was only one of four branch lineages — not the main line of the Dragon Sparrow ancestry. As for where the true orthodox line of the Dragon Sparrow demon-god was, they did not know.
“What cultivation did the demon-god Dragon Sparrow reach?” Ye Fan asked about the cultivation of their founding ancestor.
“Even in the ancient era, it had already become a Great Sage.” The stripped elderly woman replied.
So formidably powerful — this genuinely surprised Ye Fan. A main lineage established by a demon clan Great Sage would surely be extraordinary. It was worth seeking out, well deserving of a visit.
“Where did it go in the end?” Ye Fan asked again.
“In those years, our ancestor fought a great battle against Ge Hong…”
Hearing these words, Ye Fan was truly taken aback. Ge Hong was one of the most brilliant figures in all the history of Daoism — a Daoist leader of the Eastern Jin dynasty, author of the Baopuzi.
The Baopuzi that had fallen into mortal hands made mention of the nine secret syllables: Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, and the rest. He had informed the world that reciting these nine characters with regularity could drive away all evil.