Gao Qiu's words were not yet finished.
A colossal iron fist, like a furnace of molten red, struck horizontally.
Bang!
Gao Qiu's head exploded into a spray of minced meat.
"You are courting death!"
An enraged voice boomed.
Flesh and blood writhed on Gao Qiu's neck, and another head grew.
His face contorted with barely suppressed ferocity as he glared in their direction.
Ling Fan stood there, his expression cold yet tinged with anger; that punch had been his.
"How is this possible! When you were at the Qing Xuan Sect, you were merely an eighth-tier Heavenly Emperor. Now you've become a ninth-tier Heavenly Emperor, and your combat power actually rivals that of a Venerable Emperor!"
Gao Qiu's voice held a tremor of shock.
He had undergone reincarnation, retaining his original physical body, and had planted the seed of his Dao Fruit through a forbidden secret art. Now, in his reborn form, he could recover to the Venerable Emperor realm so rapidly and even contend for the Quasi-Heavenly Venerable stage. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
But why was this Fan Lin capable of such a feat!
He wasn't a reincarnation of a Venerable Emperor, nor did he possess a super physique rarely seen in ancient times. How could he grow even more astonishingly than himself?
"It seems I must eliminate you here today, lest you become a grave threat to me in the future."
Gao Qiu's voice fell as his demonic, fleshy body surged forward. An immense pressure bore down, and a hand reached out, appearing like five colossal mountain ranges stretching to the horizon, or like five world-destroying storms raging wildly.
Faint traces of Quasi-Heavenly Venerable might permeated the air, elevating the power of his palm to a terrifying degree. Even the Venerable Emperor powerhouses could only flee in disarray.
Han Xiaoya intended to intervene.
Ling Fan, however, raised an arm to stop her.
"Let me handle this. Don't dirty your hands dealing with such a disgusting individual."
As he spoke, Ling Fan shot out like a meteor, his body radiating immortal light, like a peerless Heavenly Venerable cleaving through the firmament. Boom!
With Ling Fan's fist thrust forward.
His entire being transformed into a colossal Azure Dragon, exuding supreme aura.
Boom!
Gao Qiu's fleshy palm was instantly torn to shreds by the Azure Dragon's claw. The next moment, the Azure Dragon that Ling Fan had become slammed fiercely into Gao Qiu's body.
Puff!
A terrifying blood mist erupted, scattering across the sky.
A gaping, horrific cavity appeared on Gao Qiu's chest.
The flesh and blood around the wound writhed, attempting to heal. However, the power of Ling Fan's punch, imbued with the forbidden might of the Nirvana Tribulation Body and the Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal, was exceptionally overbearing. It slowed the healing process far more than Gao Qiu had anticipated, clearly having wounded some of his core essence.
"Ah! You insignificant ant! I am a supreme expert on the verge of attesting to the Quasi-Heavenly Venerable realm, and you dare to wound my essence!"
Gao Qiu was both shocked and enraged.
He had never imagined that the person he had previously dismissed as an ant now possessed terrifying power capable of threatening him.
"You wait. You took advantage of my recent revival. Once I truly stabilize in the Quasi-Heavenly Venerable realm, I will settle all scores with you, with the entire Qing Xuan Sect! I will dominate Jin Zhou, and in the future, I will become a supreme overlord in the Heavenly Venerable realm!"
Gao Qiu cackled sinisterly, his colossal fleshy body transforming into a streak of black light and fleeing into the depths of the spatial rift.
"Trying to escape!"
Ling Fan's eyes turned cold.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Ling Fan unleashed three consecutive punches at Gao Qiu's retreating back.
"Ah!"
A scream echoed from afar.
But after the scream, the fleeing figure accelerated even further, vanishing without a trace into the deeper spatial rift in the blink of an eye.
"Chase him! If he escapes this time, it will be troublesome!"
Han Xiaoya still wanted to pursue.
Ling Fan, however, stopped her.
"Do not pursue a cornered foe. He has just revived and has hope of advancing to Quasi-Heavenly Venerable. He won't fight to the death now. But if you truly push him into a desperate situation, he will fight us at any cost. It wouldn't be worth it! After all, he now possesses the Dao Fruit of a Quasi-Heavenly Venerable, a formidable existence who can step into the Quasi-Heavenly Venerable realm at any moment. If such an existence fights desperately, it's hard to guarantee we won't be dragged down with him."
"But my enemy is right before me, and he escaped. I am filled with hatred. If only I were a little stronger!"
Han Xiaoya's expression was regretful and self-blaming.
Ling Fan gently put an arm around her shoulder and said, "I promise you, I will help you eliminate this person completely and avenge your deep-seated hatred."
"Moreover..."
Ling Fan looked up towards the boundless distance.
"The Gao family is not the main culprit. The Heavenly Court is!"
Han Xiaoya's body trembled slightly as she looked at Ling Fan.
She let out a self-mocking laugh, "Seeking revenge against the Gao family still holds hope, but seeking revenge against the Heavenly Court... that is no different from a fool's dream. The Heavenly Court is the supreme ruler governing the thirty-three thousand states of the Celestial Realm, guarded by four Heavenly Venerable overlords, not to mention the unparalleled Supreme Dao One Heavenly Venerable who has suppressed all ages! Even if I were to recover my peak strength, I wouldn't even be a speck of dust before Dao One Heavenly Venerable."
Ling Fan remained noncommittal, merely smiling faintly, his gaze distant. "That's not necessarily true. What if one day, I manage to bring down that fellow Dao One."
"You really know how to brag."
Han Xiaoya lightly punched Ling Fan, unable to help but chuckle.
"Let's go, we'll head back first. The Heavenly Court's Genius Battle is about to begin. Given Gao Qiu's ambitious nature, if he becomes a Quasi-Heavenly Venerable, he will certainly want to advance further, and he will participate in the Genius Battle. By then, your great revenge can be fully repaid."
"Yes. I need to seize this time to improve my strength. It would be best if I could advance to Quasi-Heavenly Venerable before then."
...
Returning to the Myriad Weapons Palace.
Ling Fan was making the final preparations for his Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal to be promoted to a top-grade Emperor Artifact.
He now had essentially enough materials.
His own savings were also sufficient.
Furthermore, after absorbing several large fragments of Dao Artifact-level Ancestral Dragon Seals, the Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal had, in essence, reached or even surpassed the scope of a top-grade Emperor Artifact, only needing to undergo tribulation to be promoted.
However, Ling Fan was not in a hurry.
Firstly.
He sought stability.
Secondly.
He wished to maximize the benefits of the promotion to a top-grade Emperor Artifact.
Han Xiaoya was also in secluded cultivation.
She had gained immense benefits from dual cultivation with Ling Fan, her past life memories awakening further, and her strength improving by leaps and bounds.
As long as she was given enough time.
Her becoming a Quasi-Heavenly Venerable was a natural progression.
However, advancing to Heavenly Venerable was not so easy.
Throughout history, there had been many reincarnated Heavenly Venerables who, after re-cultivating, were unable to break through the Heavenly Venerable bottleneck, despite being geniuses.
Ling Fan did not disturb Han Xiaoya and returned to the Qing Xuan Sect alone.
...
Within the Qing Xuan Sect.
The entire sect was shrouded in gloom.
Logically, after the annihilation of the Gao family, the Qing Xuan Sect should have been filled with joy and celebration.
But the current situation was entirely different.
Instead, the atmosphere was extremely tense, like a storm brewing on the horizon. Everyone felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
In the deepest part of the Qing Xuan Sect.
Lu Jiuwen had torn his hair into a bird's nest.
Yet, he still had not devised a method to break the deadlock.
"Damn it, why did the Tian Yi Sect choose this moment to attack us!"
"Should I really not have annihilated the Gao family? The Gao family lost so many Heavenly Emperors, and even a Venerable Emperor. In the end, it was a loss of strength for the Qing Xuan Sect..."
"No, the Gao family deserved to be annihilated! I did nothing wrong, but I did not anticipate that those people from the Tian Yi Sect would be so ruthless, taking advantage of our Qing Xuan Sect's vulnerability to seize and annex us."
"Hmph, although the annihilation of the Gao family did cause some damage to the Qing Xuan Sect's strength, our Qing Xuan Sect is now unprecedentedly united, a solid monolith. Even the Tian Yi Sect cannot easily swallow us!"
Lu Jiuwen made up his mind, clenching his fists and punching the air fiercely.
"Sect Master, what is making you so angry?"