The cold night was already mad.
Darkness enveloped all directions, shattering everything.
A dark avenue stretched across the firmament, its dark power piercing heaven and earth.
"Hahaha."
Han Ye was laughing, a mad, frantic laugh.
Filled with overwhelming hatred, all that remained was destruction.
"It's my turn."
In the darkness, Chen Fan's voice rang out.
It was not loud, yet it drowned out the violent roars.
"Seven emotions and six desires, very good."
Amidst the chaotic emotions, Chen Fan's voice was also replaced by ferocity: "But at least, which emotion, which desire I enter, is my own control. Rage… come."
"Boom."
A deafening roar.
The darkness was blown apart.
Towering rage erupted, burning across the entire cosmos.
"Kill."
Chen Fan attacked.
Beneath the boundless killing intent, the Tian Congyun Sword, imbued with endless flames, cleaved the heavens with a single strike.
"Chik."
A Twelve Palace expert was directly sliced in half.
One sorrowful, one enraged.
The sorrowful one was Han Ye, the events of that night in Bai Ye City having been suppressed for too long in his heart, sorrow transforming into hate, and hate overflowing.
The enraged one was Chen Fan, the phantom image from the depths of his memory, stimulated into a boundless conflagration of fury.
"Kill, kill, kill."
Madness like mountains, like seas.
Darkness and flames filled the sky, each occupying half.
Dozens of Twelve Palace experts were surrounded by the two.
Two people, encircling a crowd.
A boundless, brutal battlefield, a terrifying slaughter.
"Who are you?"
The Twelve Palace experts stared at Chen Fan in horror.
This flame was too scorching.
The recorded flame-controlling experts of the Eastern Continent in the Twelve Palace archives had no record of such a person.
"Chen Fan."
No concealment. I am I.
Chik.
A head flew off.
The soul attempted to escape, but was directly torn to shreds by the sword intent.
"Chen Fan?"
The Twelve Palace experts were confused.
The name was also unfamiliar.
They exchanged glances, their eyes filled with bewilderment.
None of them had ever heard of such a name.
Suddenly, someone seemed to guess something, their eyes alight with a flicker of excitement: "Chen Fan, this name… I think I've heard it somewhere."
Where had they heard it?
One person pondered, a lightning bolt flashing through their mind.
"I remember now."
Wild joy appeared in the eyes of the speaker: "The Wasteland. A while back, we were chasing a demon beast from the Wasteland. That beast kept muttering Chen Fan's name. Yes, it was this name. You're from the Wasteland."
Wasteland.
For the ignorant, these two words represented pollution and disaster.
But for those who knew the inside story, they understood the meaning those two words conveyed.
Opportunity.
A colossal opportunity.
"Hahaha."
All the Twelve Palace experts burst into laughter: "To think there's another from the Wasteland here. Heaven favors our Twelve Palaces, hahaha…"
Despite many losses, they were still laughing.
An opportunity had arrived.
"Please, Palace Master."
The Twelve Palace experts shouted in unison.
Their voices were synchronized.
Clang.
The sound of a sword sang to the heavens: "Han Ye, these people are yours."
"Alright."
Han Ye still retained his sanity.
The flames began to recede, all converging onto the Tian Congyun Sword.
The flames blazed, pointing towards a void.
"Snap."
A hand emerged from the distorted space.
With a flick, it seemed to push open a gateway, and a figure walked out.
A golden crown, green robes, cloud boots.
A middle-aged man's face, yet his eyes were filled with ancient weariness, a testament to the passage of time.
"Someone from the Wasteland?"
The man spoke, his tone deep: "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ni, one of the Palace Masters of the Twelve Palaces."
"Heh."
Chen Fan's lips curved upward: "So…"
"The passage."
Ni said: "Tell me the passage you used to ascend, and pledge allegiance to my Twelve Palaces, and I shall spare your life."
Understood.
Everyone wanted to find the passage to the lower realm, to enter the Wasteland.
The Twelve Palaces were no exception.
Chen Fan's lips curved upward in the glare of his rage, that hint of defiance never changing.
"You want the passage, eh? Fine, come…" Facing a Palace Master, Chen Fan provocatively beckoned with his finger.
Come.
Defeat me, or kill me.
Ni's handsome brows furrowed slightly.
He was no longer young, yet he still possessed an incredibly handsome face.
As he frowned, a chill spread.
"You seek death."
Boom.
A law of rage manifested.
The Law of Rage, with its vibrant, multicolored hues, contained the power of other emotions.
Seven emotions and six desires could also be used for offense.
A heavenly saber descended.
"Heavenly Saber, Open."
A cold voice echoed through the heavens.
Ni had made his move.
The essence of that saber strike seemed capable of cleaving the heavens anew.
Heaven and earth shattered, and so did Chen Fan's body.
This saber strike was too fast, too sharp.
Chen Fan was torn apart.
"One last chance," Ni said.
"Go to hell."
A curse reverberated.
Chen Fan's body, torn by the Heavenly Saber, did not reform. It remained in two pieces, one above, one below.
The upper sword descended, the lower sword tore through the void.
"Rumble."
A colossal sword dragon soared upwards from below.
The sword dragon roared, destroying everything.
From above, a sword tower descended. Within the sword tower was a sword domain, carrying an infinite, all-rending black hole of swords as it fell.
"Bang."
Ni was suppressed within the sword tower.
The sword dragon roared and plunged into it.
The sword tower vibrated and instantly began to collapse inwards.
Concurrently, the sword dragon was also disintegrating.
Both attacks collapsed inwards, transforming into a destructive black hole, tearing everything apart.
"Roar."
From within the destructive black hole, Ni's voice emerged, carrying suppressed pain.
The destruction by the swords had wounded him.
Ching ching.
The Heavenly Saber reappeared.
The blade's light tore through the destructive black hole created by the collapsing sword domain.
They were separated.
Ni, bloodied and battered, stepped out of the void.
He was injured, no longer the elegant and handsome figure he once was, but utterly dishevelled. "You are courting death."
Ni's aura continued to surge, bordering on madness.
Rumble.
Above, multicolored clouds gathered, and simultaneously, an immensely thick avenue of rules appeared.
Lightning raged, striking down beams of multicolored light.
Each beam was a bolt of lightning.
This realm was engulfed by lightning.
Chen Fan was battered and bruised, even his Golden Silkworm Robe could not withstand it.
The lightning raged for a full five minutes before gradually subsiding.
Ni's eyes were filled with killing intent as he looked down upon the world from above.
"I will kill your physical body, leaving only a sliver of your soul will suffice," Ni was incredibly confident.
This strike was enough to kill all experts in the Supreme realm.
Supreme realm experts were strong, but in the eyes of the Twelve Palace Masters, they still fell short.
"Heh heh."
Suddenly, flesh and blood wriggled.
Chen Fan's figure regenerated from the fragmented flesh.
"Hmm?"
Ni was surprised: "You're still alive?"
Chen Fan remained silent, only the Tian Congyun Sword humming.
"Want to kill me…"
With bloodthirsty pupils fixed on Ni, "These means are not enough. An aura beyond the Supreme realm…"
He took a deep breath.
This was the terrifying power of a touch of an aura beyond the Supreme realm.
"But, it's still not enough…" Chen Fan laughed heartily.
He was a top-tier Supreme, still separated from that step by the entire major realm of Great Perfection Supreme.
He could fight against Great Perfection Supreme experts, but he felt an inexpressible pressure from those who had touched that realm.
Since that was the case…
"Then, let's take one more step."