The matter of Ning Fan’s battle with Emperor Chonghe spread without needing feet to travel, and soon all of Taiyuan Crossing knew of it.

Because no one died in this incident, it did not cause much negative impact; instead, it became a favorite topic of conversation among the many cultivators. Imperceptibly, Ning Fan’s name became even more renowned. Even some Immortal Emperors who had not believed in Ning Fan’s strength before now had a hint of apprehension in their eyes when they looked at him.

What you hear is false, what you see is true. No matter how many rumors about Ning Fan circulated in the world, none could compare to the shock of seeing it with one’s own eyes. The scene of Emperor Chonghe being beaten into a bloody mess once again proved Ning Fan’s might. It was just a pity the course of that battle had been obscured by the iron curtain of the battlefield, so outsiders could hardly know the details.

Ning Fan himself did not particularly care about defeating Emperor Chonghe. Perhaps he had been through too many Immortal Emperor–level battles; his state of mind was no longer stirred by such things.

From Emperor Chonghe, Ning Fan had found out many things he had wanted to know.

For example, he had vaguely learned of the whereabouts of the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor. In those years, the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor had secretly left the Divine Tomb. When he left, he did not inform even Ning Fan or Xiang Mingzi, yet he went to Zaoyang Mountain alone, met Emperor Chonghe once, and left some things with Emperor Chonghe...

Ning Fan dismissed the maids and took out from his storage pouch an ancient skull, burned pitch-black.

No one knew how many years this skull had existed. The aura of time it exuded seemed to be even more ancient than such old existences as the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor and Great Emperor Chonghe.

On the frontal bone of the skull there was a small hole, as if it had been pierced by some sharp implement like a needle or a nail. When one’s fingers brushed over that little hole, one could still feel a trace of sharpness, a skin-piercing chill that had not dispersed since antiquity.

The owner of this skull had, in life, likely been an existence on par with an Ancient Great Cultivator. Unfortunately, as too many ages had passed, the spirituality of this bone was completely lost, and it no longer had any use.

According to Emperor Chonghe’s account, on the day the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor visited Zaoyang Mountain, after they met, he did not exchange any useless words with him at all. He simply took out this bone and asked in an obscure manner,

[Can you still remember who this skull belonged to?]

Faced with such a baffling question, Emperor Chonghe was confused and answered thus: [This old man has never known this skull at all, so naturally it is impossible to remember it. Speaking of which, Chaos, you really did not die after all! Was it that disciple of yours who successfully prolonged your life for you, that you actually managed to deceive heaven and earth and trick all of Eastern Heaven? That disciple of yours is tight‑lipped indeed! It’s just a pity that the smaller numbers of the Heavenly Dao may be altered, but the greater numbers are as one. Though you can, by relying on your disciple, drag out a few more hundred or thousand years of feeble existence, in the end you still must die!]

Hearing this negative answer, the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor seemed greatly disappointed and turned to leave. Naturally, he could not be bothered to explain to Chonghe why he was still alive, and he was even less willing to argue with Emperor Chonghe.

Yet not long after he left, the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor suddenly turned back again and left that origin‑unknown skull to Emperor Chonghe.

[Hmph! What are you leaving this broken skull with me for!]

[If my disciple Ning Fan comes looking for me, tell him I’ve gone to kill the owner of this skull. Eastern Heaven is about to fall into chaos; tell him to be careful...]

[Why should this old man pass on your message! Come back! Take away your thing! Come back here!]

In the end, the willful Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor did not speak a third sentence with Emperor Chonghe. He drifted away, leaving Emperor Chonghe fuming...

Why should he pass on a message for that old fossil Chaos!

Why should he, why should he! All those who came out of Lieyuan Sect were self‑centered bastards, bastards!

...

"Perhaps there was some friendship between Emperor Chonghe and my Chaotic Ancient Master..."

Ning Fan let out a soft sigh.

If he had not faintly sensed this, he would not have so easily settled karma with Emperor Chonghe. A large part of it was for the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s sake...

Ning Fan examined the charred skull in his hand. Yet no matter how he looked at it from left or right, he could not see any clues.

No leads at all...

No direction at all...

Had the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor gone to kill the owner of this skull... Who exactly did the owner of the skull refer to...

It was truly a perplexing course of action. Ning Fan did not know whether the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s movements were connected to the current chaos engulfing the Four Heavens...

There was no information left upon the skull. Ning Fan pondered lightly, then suddenly activated his Divine Talent, Communication with All Things, to listen to the myriad things—to hear the voice of the soul hidden deep within this skull.

At that listening, trouble arose: from within the skull there actually sounded a man’s cold, mind‑bewitching laugh—chill, strange, unspeakably unsettling to hear—this was a voice that only a spirit with Communication with All Things could hear!

The instant that cold laugh entered Ning Fan’s ears, he only felt a stab of pain in his divine sense, his gaze going briefly blank. The memories in his mind of what was happening at that very moment were actually wiped away by that laugh.

That daze persisted for a full two hours before Ning Fan regained clarity, secretly startled.

When he looked at the skull again, there was puzzlement in his eyes.

"What just happened to me..." He actually could not remember in the slightest that he had used the ability of Communication with All Things to listen to the skull’s voice.

"I remember I was just about to use the Divine Talent of Communication with All Things to listen to this skull... At that time, along the banks of the Boundary River, it had only just turned to dusk... But now, outside the window, night has already fallen... It seems I’ve had two hours of memory forcibly erased... Did this skull do something to me? What a bizarre skull!"

Ning Fan’s brows knit; looking at this skull again, he no longer dared harbor the slightest contempt.

After pondering a moment, Ning Fan once more activated his Divine Talent, Communication with All Things, to listen to the skull—only to be bewildered for another two hours by a single cold laugh from the skull.

And when the bewilderment lifted, he had lost yet another two hours of memory...

"It seems I won’t be able to pry anything out of it... For just a skull whose spirituality has been exhausted to be this eerie—my Chaotic Ancient Master’s attempt to kill the owner of this skull is likely no easy task..."

At first, Ning Fan had been somewhat worried about the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s safety. But then he thought it through: that Ancient Chaos had once slain a Saint, an old existence from antiquity. In the current Era of Decline, there likely wasn’t much that could pose him real danger; Ning Fan realized he was overthinking.

He tried a few other methods, but still could not obtain any useful information from the skull, so Ning Fan could only give up on the matter and set it aside.

Aside from the Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s whereabouts, Great Emperor Chonghe had also sent over some intelligence related to the Dark Clan, to settle their karma and win Ning Fan’s favor.

Among that information were some things Great Emperor Chonghe had discovered when he personally went to the Dark Continent Ruins to investigate.

[According to this old man’s investigation, the Dark Clan seems to no longer be in Eastern Heaven. The entire clan has vanished, which is truly a bizarre affair. It appears that in the short term, little friend need not fear the Dark Clan’s retaliation. That is indeed a most joyous occasion.]

[It’s just that the timing of the Dark Clan’s disappearance is a little too coincidental. The instant they vanished, the Boundary River fell into turmoil... This time’s turmoil of the Boundary River is by no means simple! By my temperament, I ought to value self‑preservation, and not wade into these muddy waters of the Boundary River. But I also know that when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact. If this Boundary River disturbance truly develops to an unprecedented scale, then no matter what, I will not be able to remain uninvolved. Only by throwing myself into the tribulation can I hope to escape it; this, too, is a form of self‑protection.]

[You ask me where the Dark Clan went? Hehe, I am not the roundworm in those Dark Clan Masters’ bellies; how could I know such a thing. Could it be that little friend suspects I have some secret collusion with the Dark Clan? You think too much. I did indeed have some dealings with the Dark Clan before, and I did help them scheme against little friend a bit, but I am by no means of one mind with the Dark Clan; it was merely mutual exploitation, nothing more. Even if, behind this Boundary River turmoil, there truly is the Dark Clan’s handiwork, it has nothing to do with me. Though I resent that the Purple Dou Immortal Sovereign looks down on me, I am also well aware of the mission borne by a Purple Astral Immortal Cultivator. As for bringing calamity upon the Dreamland Realm—such a thing, I could never do!]

[Mysterious Scholar Dan? Maha? At that time, they did indeed send their disciples to the Supreme Pill Sacred Domain to assist the Dark Clan in their deeds, to unseal the Primordial Thunder Cauldron; but they each contacted the Dark Clan on their own. How deep their private ties with the Dark Clan go, what trades they made in secret—I know nothing of it. However, I just happen to know one thing: the true bodies of Mysterious Scholar Dan and Maha are not Eastern Heaven cultivators, but fiends that escaped from within the Supreme Pill Sacred Domain... The Dabei Clan of the Supreme Pill Sacred Domain cannot survive in the outside world, yet certain things like demon, Corpse and the like can survive beyond the domain. Tell me, is that not amusing...]

[You ask why the Dark Clan seeks to scheme after the Primordial Thunder Cauldron? Little friend, you are mistaken: it is not the Dark Clan that wants the Primordial Thunder Cauldron, but rather... It seems this cauldron really has fallen into little friend’s hands. In that case, what Flying Thunder said about little friend attacking the Holy Mountain is probably true as well... Then little friend must indeed have met Baizu Daoist, yes? There are some things I am not at liberty to speak of; little friend need only grasp my meaning. The Immemorial Evil Vein is actually also an Offering Vessel of Ancient Demons. Some people incited the Dark Clan to assist in scheming for this cauldron not for the cauldron itself, but for a certain significance and mission borne by it... So long as this cauldron remains in little friend’s hands, little friend and that Demon‑Sealing Peak behind Baizu Daoist are ultimately bound to cross swords once more...]

Ning Fan closed his eyes, Chong He Emperor’s words echoing in his mind, yet no extra expression appeared on his face; it was impossible to tell what thoughts lay within.

In the blink of an eye, several more months passed.

Now, along the banks of the Boundary River, tens of thousands of Eastern Heaven Immortal Sects had already gathered, on a scale never seen before.

Small raids by the different race were also growing ever more frequent; almost every single day saw dozens of different race assaults, each larger in scale than the last.

Thus, even though the Formations the Golden Bull Palace had laid along the Boundary River’s banks were strong enough, under the different race’s heedless, death‑disregarding charges, some gaps still opened, and large numbers of casualties began to appear among the river‑defending cultivators...

Dark clouds began to shroud the entire Boundary River.

In these few months, the different race slain for ramming against the Boundary River Formations numbered in the millions, including dozens of Immortal Venerables and Immortal Kings.

Despite so many different race being cut down, the ferocity of their assaults not only failed to diminish, but instead showed a tendency to grow ever more intense, as if the different race lurking in the depths beneath the water could never be killed to the last...

Everyone could see that merely defending along the Boundary River’s banks, without mounting an offensive, would not do.

After several meetings among the upper echelons of the Alliance, a new strategy of attack and defense was finally set. Large numbers of Alliance cultivators began to be dispatched to recapture the hundreds of Border Passes on the Boundary River that had been lost.

Those passes each occupy key terrain; if all are recovered, they can echo from afar with the Golden Bull Palace’s Formations and form a layer of blockade over the surface of the Boundary River, preventing the Foreign Clans of Boundary River from easily breaking the water and emerging.

The Alliance Hierarch and Vice Alliance Hierarch remained at the center of the Boundary River without moving; the heavy responsibility of recapturing the Boundary River passes fell upon the shoulders of the chief generals and vice generals.

High above the Boundary River, a colossal warship howled through the air; it had already been flying toward the outer waters of the Boundary River for a full ten days.

Ning Fan stood at the prow, with several thousand Eastern Heaven powerhouses following behind him. As Vice General, he too needed to take part in the operation to recapture the Boundary River passes. At this moment, he was on the warship, leafing through a Boundary River map issued by the Golden Bull Palace.

The map was extremely ancient, and on it were marked the words "Eastern Boundary River" and "Eleventh Waterway".

The Four Heavens Boundary River each have their own names; the so‑called Eastern Boundary River naturally refers to the Eastern Heaven Boundary River.

The Eastern Boundary River has a total of twelve waterways. The Third Waterway leads to Western Heaven, the Sixth Waterway leads to Ning Fan, and the Ninth Waterway leads to the southern heavenly gate. The remaining Nine Heavens waterways also once led somewhere, but unfortunately, they had long since fallen into disuse in the river of time, could no longer be traversed, and had become veritable dead‑water regions. Under normal circumstances, cultivators crossing the river to other heavens would not take these abandoned waterways, so the Boundary River passes built on these waterways were few, and their scale was often not large.

In this operation, Ning Fan was responsible for recapturing the passes on the Eleventh Waterway. On this Eleventh Waterway, there were only thirteen passes. According to intelligence, after the different race captured the Eleventh Waterway’s passes that day, they did not station heavy troops on the Eleventh Waterway. One could say that there would not be too great a risk in recapturing the passes of the Eleventh Path. The passes of the Third Path, Ninth Path, and Ninth Path are where the different race has stationed heavy troops—after all, those three paths are connected to the other three heavens, and thus carry the greatest strategic weight...

Considering that the Eleventh Path had no heavy different race garrison, the several thousand cultivators accompanying Ning Fan on this campaign mostly wore relaxed expressions.

Behind Ning Fan stood three Eternal Immortal Venerables in attendance, sent by Emperor Cang to assist him.

These three Eternal Immortal Venerables also wore relaxed expressions, because the intelligence reports stated that there was no Different Race Immortal Emperor guarding the Eleventh Path. With Ning Fan’s strength of having slain an Immortal Emperor, dealing with other different race Immortal Venerables and Immortal Kings would naturally be effortless. Following Ning Fan to handle matters, the risk was almost zero.

The three were chatting and laughing when they suddenly saw Ning Fan put down the map, his gaze carrying some displeasure as it swept over them.

"You are far too relaxed. In another half day’s travel by water, we will reach Water Moon Pass. This place is already within the outer waters of the Boundary River; the chance of different race attacks is very high. Do not be careless!"

Water Moon Pass was the first pass on the Eleventh Waterway. According to the intelligence, a hundred thousand of the different race were stationed there, among them four Immortal Venerables and one Immortal King...

Ning Fan naturally would not take mere Immortal Venerables and Immortal Kings to heart, but he had been informed by Emperor Jin Heng of the terrifying foundations of the different race, and did not dare show the slightest negligence when fighting them.

The three Immortal Venerables, however, did not know the terrifying foundations of the different race. Though in recent months the different race offensive along the Boundary River’s banks had caused tens of thousands of casualties among Eastern Celestial Cultivators, even more of the different race had died—no fewer than several million had been slain by the Boundary River Formations!

Thus the vast majority of Eastern Celestial Cultivators, because of a string of victories, were somewhat dismissive of the different race, believing that this time’s Boundary River chaos might not be as severe as the last.

"Hehe, Vice General is overthinking it. With you, Senior, at our side, the different race on the Eleventh Path is simply nothing to fear! Our respect for the Vice General’s strength truly comes from the bottom of our hearts!" A bald old man smiled and shook his head. He possessed Second Calamity Eon-old Tribulation Cultivation, with the Daoist title Hualong Immortal Venerable.

"What Hualong Daoist says is reasonable. In the view of us subordinates, Vice General alone is enough to sweep clean the different race of the Eleventh Path. It’s a pity that on each waterway there is a main pass, and that main pass must be garrisoned with heavy troops... Our following along is merely so that, after the main pass is retaken, we can remain there to guard it. It’s just some hard labor. With the Vice General standing in front, how could there be any danger?" Another Immortal Venerable with the appearance of a scholarly young man laughed. He possessed Eon-old Tribulation Cultivation and bore the Daoist title Jinfeng (Golden Wind) Hermit.

"Keke, this concubine also feels the Vice General is overthinking it. Right now we are still half a day’s water journey from Water Moon Pass; with Hualong and Jinfeng, the two Daoists, guarding the warship, that is enough. Why doesn’t the Vice General come to this concubine’s room to rest for a while..." A coquettish demoness smiled charmingly at Ning Fan, actually trying to invite him to share a night of spring breeze.

She was a Newly Ascended Immortal Venerable, known as Lady Xiuhua, a female venerable who attained the Dao through dual-cultivation harvesting; her aura was hollow, placing her among the weaker Eternal Immortal Venerables. Among the cultivators attending this alliance, quite a few male cultivators were her playthings.

Ning Fan’s brows furrowed even deeper. He greatly disliked the three’s careless attitude, yet did not offer further reminders, and even less could he, at such a time and place, go fool around with Lady Xiuhua.

On the battlefield, where is there room for seeking pleasure? While others belittled the different race, he had already raised his vigilance to the utmost; Yunian had long since spread out in secret. But because a certain magnetic interference existed in the sky above the Boundary River, capable of disrupting cultivators’ senses, his Yunian could not clearly perceive things too far away...

Occasionally he would take out the Compass to confirm their position, yet the pointer on the Compass was also spinning chaotically, fundamentally unable to determine direction...

This was the Boundary River.

This place was filled with chaotic spatial magnetism; even a Ning Fan-level great cultivator, if unfamiliar with the Boundary River, would lose his way here.

Thus they needed to use the specially crafted boats of the Golden Bull Palace to cross the river.

The warship shuttled through the clouds, seeming to fly aimlessly, yet in the dark it followed some mysterious trajectory. So long as the destination was set in advance, this warship would by no means lose its way in the Boundary River.

The speed of this vessel in flight was roughly on par with that of an ordinary Immortal Venerable; but since Ning Fan was unfamiliar with the Boundary River, only by riding the ship could he reach his destination, so he had no choice but to restrain his impatience and travel by warship.

Hii—riii!

Suddenly, countless eerie horse neighs came from all directions.

On the warship, the crowd of cultivators who had been merrily chatting and laughing all changed expression. Under their gazes of shock and uncertainty, the riverwater ahead suddenly parted to left and right, and tens of thousands of shade-faced, horse-headed different race burst forth from beneath the water to attack.

"Not good! There’s an ambush here! It’s the Shade-Equine Clan!"

The Shade-Equine Clan was one branch of the Foreign Clans of Boundary River, most of its people having horse heads and human bodies, notorious for their fondness for eating human flesh.

In past years, at regular intervals, Eastern Celestial Cultivators would offer up virgin boys and girls to the Foreign Clans of Boundary River, praying for safe travels. Many of those offered children were eaten by the powerhouses of the Shade-Equine Clan.

At this moment, these Shade-Equine powerhouses bursting out of the water looked at the masters on the warship as if looking at food.

Several hundred Shade-Equine powerhouses holding Shade Soul Chains bound the warship with their chains, preventing it from moving forward.

The rest of the Shade-Equine powerhouses spoke in an unknown tongue, cackling all the way as they charged onto the warship!

Because these Shade-Equine powerhouses attacked so suddenly, nearly a hundred Eastern Celestial Cultivators fell on the spot, either pierced through by those Shade Soul Chains or shot dead by the Shade-Equine archers’ yin arrows.

Although he disliked his subordinates’ carelessness, the fact that over a hundred were truly killed by the Shade-Equine Clan due to carelessness still stirred a chill in Ning Fan’s eyes.

Tens of thousands of yin arrows shot toward the warship. No one knew how these arrows were forged, but their power was immense; ordinary Second Step Fate Immortals simply could not withstand their attacks.

Among them were even some specially made yin arrows that could injure or kill even True Immortals and eon-old experts.

Caught unawares, Transformed Dragon Elder had his left arm shot off in one go by a dark-green yin arrow, blood gushing wildly as shock overwhelmed him.

Then a one-horned horse whose four hooves stepped on flames and whose mane was formed of dark-green fire charged at Transformed Dragon Elder with a vicious grin, biting off his neck in a single chomp and swallowing his head!

That one-horned horse actually possessed cultivations comparable to a Four Calamity Immortal King!

With just one exchange, Transformed Dragon Elder’s head was severed and his body died. His Spirit barely escaped from the corpse, only to be chased down by that one-horned flame horse, whose gaping maw came down in another swallow.

Transformed Dragon Elder sacrificed several magical treasures in self-detonation, but all were shattered by a single horn-strike from that one-horned horse. Seeing he was about to be devoured by that flame horse, despair surfaced in Transformed Dragon Elder’s eyes.

"My life is over!"

At the brink of certain death, he saw that one-horned flame horse suddenly let out a miserable scream, struck by something, spitting blood as it shrieked and was blasted away.

It was Ning Fan who, seeing Transformed Dragon Elder about to die, had no choice but to act. With just a casual punch, he sent that one-horned horse flying, then caught up and added another punch, directly blasting apart the one-horned horse with Four Calamity Immortal King cultivations.

Dark-green filthy blood and minced flesh instantly splattered all over the warship’s deck!

The flame horse’s pair of eyeballs rolled across the deck, still carrying a look of disbelief even in death, unable to comprehend how, when this group of Eastern Celestial Cultivators clearly had no Immortal Emperor, someone could destroy it with just two casual punches...

"Arimowai! Arimowai!" Many Shade-Equine powerhouses, upon seeing the one-horned flame horse killed by Ning Fan, immediately had their eyes turn blood-red. They charged at Ning Fan regardless of everything, their momentum carrying a resolve that disregarded life and death.

It seemed this one-horned flame horse was an important figure within the Shade-Equine Clan; its death had enraged all these Shade-Equine powerhouses.

But so what if they were enraged!

Ning Fan flipped his hand and summoned the Reverse Sea Sword, raised it toward the sky, then changed his spirit sense. Instantly, the Reverse Sea Sword exploded into hundreds and thousands of ghostly blue sword-shadows, sweeping toward the surrounding Shade-Equine powerhouses. Wherever they passed, any Shade-Equine powerhouse below eon-old cultivation could not withstand even a single strike and were all shredded to death.

In just a few breaths, all the Shade-Equine powerhouses who had rushed onto the warship were slaughtered by Ning Fan.

Those Shade-Equine powerhouses who had yet to leap onto the warship all felt their beastly pupils turn cold with terror, looking at Ning Fan as if at an unmatched demon god.

At a shout from a Second Calamity Cultivation Level Immortal Venerable among the Shade-Equine powerhouses, all the Shade-Equine powerhouses retreated like the tide, trying to flee back into the Waters of Boundary River.

But they could not escape!

Ning Fan spat out Black Dragon evil fire, burning the water’s surface. Within a hundred li around them, with water a hundred zhang deep, the surface was turned into steam by the Black Dragon evil fire. All the Shade-Equine powerhouses who leapt into the water were burned to death with no survivors.

He then urged the Reverse Sea Sword in a single slash, cutting apart all the Shade Soul Chains that bound the warship’s movement.

"Keep moving."

Ning Fan said indifferently, casually taking out a cloth and wiping the horse blood from his fist, as if killing a Four Calamity Immortal King and slaughtering over ten thousand Shade-Equine of a different race was a trivial matter.

The atmosphere on the warship finally grew somewhat heavy.

Those masters who had previously underestimated the different race no longer dared to harbor the slightest contempt. Just a moment’s carelessness had resulted in over a hundred comrades falling; if they were ambushed by the different race a few more times...

No one dared think further; a sense of crisis finally took root in their hearts.

Transformed Dragon Elder’s face was bitter with endless regret. If not for his excessive carelessness, then no matter how fierce that Four Calamity one-horned horse was, it wouldn’t have been able to destroy his physical defense in one exchange.

Now that he had lost his physical defense, nearly ninety percent of his strength was gone. He had become little more than dead weight and could only temporarily enter the cabin to go into seclusion and heal along with those injured masters.

After the Shade-Equine Clan’s attack, along the way Ning Fan’s group encountered several more surprise attacks from the different race. Even though everyone was now on guard, several dozen people were still wiped out by them.

Of course, the different race suffered far heavier losses. Ning Fan alone slaughtered several hundred thousand of them on this stretch, including seven Immortal Venerables and five Immortal Kings.

Yet this time, none of the several thousand masters felt any joy over these battle achievements.

They had clearly killed so many of the different race, yet the number of enemies they encountered along the way showed not the slightest sign of diminishing...

Just how many powerhouses did the different race have!

Were they truly impossible to kill to the last!

This... was this the enemy they were about to face!

Half a day later, a colossal fortress in severe disrepair appeared before the warship.

Water Moon Pass!

Calling it a pass was no longer accurate. The current Water Moon Pass had long since been taken and occupied by Other Race powerhouses for months, rebuilt into a gigantic nest.

On the ramparts of the pass, huge dark green insect eggs could be seen everywhere, writhing like hearts.

One hundred thousand Other Race powerhouses stood within the pass, killing intent chilling, waiting. When the warship arrived, countless Shade-Equine Clan experts charged out from within the pass. Shade arrows, Shade Soul Chains, Shade Fire flying forks—countless attacks surged toward the warship.

At the very front of the hundred thousand Other Race, there was even a giant dragon wreathed in dark green flames, eyes scarlet as it charged at Ning Fan.

That was a Quasi-Emperor!

That seemed to be...the king of the Shade-Equine Clan!

Ning Fan’s gaze unintentionally fell into the interior of the pass beneath the warship, and there he saw that within the pass, piles of white bones of Masters were everywhere. The flesh and tendons upon those bones had long since been gnawed clean by Shade-Equine Cultivators...

All eaten, huh...

The Eastern Celestial Cultivators who had once guarded Water Moon Pass...

"You dare kill my son... I will... eat you!"

The Shade-Equine powerhouses all spoke in their clan’s own tongue, but this Shade-Equine king actually understood the language of the Eastern Celestial Cultivators, merely speaking it somewhat haltingly.

"Fine, I’ll let you eat, once."

A cold glint flashed in Ning Fan’s eyes. He suddenly flew off the warship, white robes snapping in the wind, charging straight toward that giant dragon’s bloody maw.

The giant dragon was stunned at first, then its killing intent surged even fiercer. It did not know why Ning Fan would foolishly rush straight toward its mouth, but this was a chance to swallow and kill him!

"Die!"

The giant dragon opened its jaws and swallowed Ning Fan in one gulp, only then did the rage in its heart calm slightly.

But immediately after, its expression suddenly changed drastically, and fear surfaced.

With a thunderous boom, its dragon belly was blasted open from the inside out by Ning Fan. Meat as hard as steel and shattered organs sprayed everywhere.

"What a pity, you don’t seem to have the ability to eat me. In that case, it’s my turn to eat you."

With a hiss, a sword light cleaved out from within, splitting the entire body of the giant dragon in two.

Ning Fan tore out of the dragon corpse, a terrified, illusory dragon soul gripped in his hand. He casually tossed it into the Refining God Cauldron. A flash of blood light, and it was refined into a Blood of Ten Thousand Spirits pill, which he swallowed on the spot.

"Kill!"

Ning Fan flashed forward into the battle array of the hundred thousand Other Race, beginning an unstoppable slaughter.

The crowd of Masters atop the warship were all stirred by the scene of Ning Fan killing a Quasi-Emperor in an instant. They controlled the warship and charged straight at the Other Race.

After a round of bloody battle, the hundred thousand Other Race were completely annihilated.

Under Ning Fan’s command, several dozen more men died, and nearly a hundred were wounded.

Water Moon Pass—recaptured!

At the same time, deep within the Waters of Boundary River, far beneath the endless surface, among a dozen or so long-whiskered giant dragons that had slumbered for ages, one suddenly opened its angry eyes.

"The Shade-Equine Clan was founded by my seventy-fourth son, and they’ve actually been wiped out! Hmph, the Eastern Heaven ants have already begun to reclaim the Eleventh Waterway, have they? Unfortunately for them, with this ancestor here, you will all become food in my mouth. To think of reclaiming the Eleventh Waterway is nothing but a delusional dream!"

It surged upward, heading straight for the surface.

The other giant dragons only now opened their eyes.

"Long Qie has gone to the surface. What should we do? The Grand Divine Minister strictly ordered us Immortal Emperors that unless we receive a command, we are not to leave the water..."

"Ignore him, let him go. Long Qie’s strength is not weak; even if he encounters an East Heaven Immortal Emperor he won’t suffer a loss. If he goes and returns quickly, the Grand Divine Minister might not even find out."

"Heh heh, this old man also wants to go to the surface and taste human flesh. How about this—this old man will go help Long Qie..."

"I’ll go too!"

"Count me in!"

"Stop! Long Qie going out of the water alone already violates the order. If you all go as well, once the Grand Divine Minister learns of it, it will be hard to explain."

"This... Forget it then. After a period of time, the Grand Divine Minister will no longer restrict us from leaving the water. We can go eat meat then, it’s the same. Heh heh, we haven’t tasted Eastern Heaven human flesh for thirty-two million years. Back then, the flesh and blood of those two East Heaven Immortal Emperors was truly delicious..."

"Fifth, you’re the best at sensing. Can you sense who these Eastern Heaven ants are following?"

"Let me use the River Diagram Mirror to spy a bit... Hm? The leader of the Eleventh Path seems to be some Vice General with the surname Ning... Hm? This person is not an Immortal Emperor..."

"Not even an Immortal Emperor?"

"Merely an Immortal Venerable..."

"Actually just an Immortal Venerable?"

The giant dragons were all taken aback, then burst into derisive laughter.

The Eastern Heaven ants truly grew weaker with each generation. In this age, even an Immortal Venerable could be chosen as Vice General of the Boundary River Alliance.

Some Vice General surnamed Ning—never even heard of him! Clearly just an ant... Long Qie probably won’t need long to eat them all and come back...