“I think….” Right at this moment, Yang Ye suddenly started speaking.

Xiahou Xuan was slightly stunned, and then he gazed at Yang Ye as he wanted to see what this dying man intended to say.

Yang Ye gazed at those 4 characters that floated above him and said, “What is cultivation? Cultivation is an act of seizing resources from the world, it’s an act of using the energy in the world to strengthen oneself, so that one’s aspirations and desires can be fulfilled. Cultivation is an act of going against the heavens for survival. So, cultivation itself is defiance of the heavens. So, what sins have I committed by killing the Mortal Emperor and defying the heavens?”

“How absurd and heinous!” Xiahou Xuan shouted.

However, a strand of violet energy suddenly surged out from within Yang Ye, and then an ethereal pagoda enveloped him. The words ‘Primordial Pagoda’ could be faintly noticed on the pagoda.

Xiahou Xuan was stunned. Suddenly, the ethereal pagoda shot into the air and smashed against the characters ‘筆伐口誅’.

Bang!

A huge explosion resounded as the characters were obliterated!

All who witnessed this scene were stunned, and even Xiahou Xuan was stunned. He gazed with disbelief at the ethereal pagoda and said, “How could this be possible? How could this be possible?”

Meanwhile, a strange force enveloped Xiahou Xuan, and then the profound energy within him surged madly before entering Yang Ye. Moreover, it wasn’t just his profound energy, his spirit, energy, and essence had surged madly out of him and shot incessantly into Yang Ye as well….

He was suffering from backlash!

Xiahou Xuan howled like a madman, “No! This is impossible! It’s impossible! Yang Ye, you’ve gone against the Mortal Dao, Heaven Dao, and Saint Dao. How could I suffer backlash instead! How could this be possible?” However, regardless of how he screamed, the essence, spirit, and energy within him was still surging out incessantly before entering Yang Ye’s body in quite a strange manner.

Moreover, Yang Ye’s cultivation was rising explosively at an extremely horrifying speed!

The first rank of the Spirit Realm!

The second rank of the Spirit Realm!

The first rank of the Exalt Realm!

The second rank of the Exalt Realm!

The third rank of the Exalt Realm!

…

“Senior, what exactly is going on?” Ding Shaoyao heaved a huge sigh of relief before she gazed at the Demon Emperor who stood by her side.

The Demon Emperor gazed at the ethereal pagoda above Yang Ye and shook his head, “I’m not very sure. But it should be related to what he said. Even though it sounded absurd and heinous, it makes sense if you think about it carefully. The essence of cultivation is actually defiance of the heavens. Otherwise, the heavens wouldn’t send down its divine punishment when we advance into the Monarch Realm and Saint Realm!”

“Senior, you mean it was because of what Yang Ye said? Cultivation itself is defiance of the heavens actually encompasses the essence of the Grand Dao within it? And that was why Xiahou Xuan suffered backlash from his technique?” asked Ding Shaoyao.

The Demon Emperor shook his head and said, “Yang Ye was punished earlier, and that was sufficient to prove that Yang Ye’s actions had really violated the Mortal Dao and Heaven Dao. While I’m not aware of the actual reason behind why Xiahou Xuan is suffering such backlash, it's definitely related to what Yang Ye said and the ethereal pagoda above him!

Ding Shaoyao was quite speechless because the Demon Emperors words didn’t explain anything!

Xiahou Xuan had jet black hair when he arrived here, but it was snow white now. His face had transformed from its handsome state to become covered in wrinkles. As for his eyes, while there was still a little life in them, they were filled with terror and disbelief….

Yang Ye’s cultivation was still rising.

Xiahou Xuan was a peak ninth rank Exalt Realm expert, and he was one that hadn’t relied on external forces to attain such a cultivation. Now that his cultivation was being completely transferred to Yang Ye, Yang Ye’s cultivation naturally rose explosively. However, the speed at which Yang Ye’s cultivation rose had finally started to show signs of slowing down when he attained the ninth rank of the Exalt Realm!

The ninth rank of the Exalt Realm! Yang Ye opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and then formed an intent sword in his grasp. He sheathed it within the ancient sheath before swiftly drawing it, and then a beam of violet sword energy shot into the sky. Everywhere it passed, an enormous rift was torn open in space, and this rift reached the clouds. He said, “The Mortal Dao? Heaven Dao? Saint Dao? All of you can fuck off! Regardless of what Dao it is, I’ll slash away anything that stands before me!”

Bang!

As if it was a reply to Yang Ye’s words. The sky suddenly dimmed downed, and then dark clouds filled the sky. After that, a dark black pillar of lightning rumbled down from the sky and descended towards Yang Ye!

“Black lightning…. The heavens are actually treating Yang Ye like a defiant profounder!” The Demon Emperor was slightly confused when he witnessed this scene. Because black lightning had only appeared in the legends, or to be more precise, it had only appeared over 100,000 years ago when the Heaven Dao fought the defiant profounders. Yet now, it had appeared again, and its target was Yang Ye. The Heaven Dao was actually treating Yang Ye in the same way that it treated defiant profounders….

Could it be that my demon race will really have to defy the heavens with Yang Ye? Would we be any different than the defiant profounders if we did that?

Meanwhile, the ethereal pagoda above Yang Ye had suddenly shot into the sky and collided with the pillar of lightning!

Bang!

Countless profounders watched with astonishment as the enormous pillar of lightning was blasted into pieces, and it transformed into countless arcs of lightning that dispersed towards the surroundings. Meanwhile, the ethereal pagoda returned to Yang Ye!

Everyone including the Demon Emperor was looking at the ethereal pagoda because the Demon Emperor had actually felt extremely attracted yet threatened by the pagoda!

Yang Ye was shocked by this scene as well. He was naturally aware that the ethereal pagoda was the Primordial Pagoda, but he didn’t understand why it had formed a small ethereal pagoda that appeared above him!

Could it be that my words from before resonated with it? Yang Ye thought for quite some time before he shook his head and decided to stop lingering on this question. Because the Primordial Pagoda had acknowledged him as its master, so it won’t harm him no matter what.

“How did you accomplish this!?” Right at this moment, a seemingly aged voice resounded from in front of Yang Ye.

Yang Ye looked over yet didn’t feel any pity when he noticed Xiahou Xuan’s aged appearance, and there was only happiness in his heart. Because he was well aware that the consequences of his defeat would absolutely not be any better than Xiahou Xuan. He laughed coldly and said, “Do you think that I would tell you?”

“Haha….” A wisp of self-ridicule appeared on his aged face as he said, “I learned this technique, Condemnation, so that I could once again reveal the glory of the seniors of the Dao of Confucianism during the fight with the defiant profounders. I never imagined that I would just suddenly fall at your hands for no reason. Over 20 years of cultivation have become yours now. I refuse to accept this, I refuse!” Xiahou Xuan’s eyes were filled with boundless resentment and hatred. Unfortunately, he wasn’t just unable to attack, he couldn’t even stand steadily.

Yang Ye took a step forward and instantly arrived before Xiahou Xuan, and then his sword stabbed through the latter’s throat.

Hiss!

Blood sprayed from Xiahou Xuan’s neck as his head flew off from his body.

Yang Ye shook his head as he gazed at Xiahou Xuan’s corpse. Needless to say, Xiahou Xuan was very strong, strong to the point that he’d almost lost. However, Xiahou Xuan shouldn’t have underestimated his opponent, or it should be said that he shouldn’t have utilized Condemnation. Because if he hadn’t, then it might not have been Xiahou Xuan who perished now. It might have been him, Yang Ye!

However, Xiahou Xuan was only ranked at the 3rd position on the Hallowed Rankings!

This made Yang Ye wonder exactly how strong the 1st was!

Yang Ye’s brows were knit tightly together. He’d been constantly cultivating and constantly strengthening himself. Before he experienced all of this, he’d thought that there shouldn’t be anyone in the same realm of cultivation who was capable of killing him. No, it should actually be said that he’d thought no one in the same realm of cultivation could even defeat him. But the reality he faced was that he’d almost been killed by an opponent at a similar realm of cultivation as him!

He hadn’t survived because of his own strength, and it was because of luck instead. Yes, it was luck! It was luck that had allowed him to survive! This was quite an insult to Yang Ye!

Once one attained success, one would become complacent. No one could avoid such a thing. However, this battle had allowed Yang Ye to truly restrain his pride and arrogance. Because he noticed that even if he was at the ninth rank of the Exalt Realm, his strength was still nothing worthy of taking pride in. After all, there was always someone stronger in this world!

Arrogance and conceit would only lead to death! So, he had to continue working hard without end, and he had to work even harder than before!

Swoosh!

Right at this moment, the ethereal pagoda above Yang Ye had suddenly transformed into a ray of light that entered into his body, and when Yang Ye scanned his body, he only noticed the material Primordial Pagoda while the ethereal pagoda was nowhere to be found!

Yang Ye sighed lightly as he gazed at the Primordial Pagoda. He was very well aware that it was definitely a powerful weapon. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to wield it for now, and that was an extremely aggrieving and helpless feeling!

Bang!

Suddenly, an explosion that shook the world resounded from a few hundred meters away, and then the entire ground started to quake violently while countless cracks that were as thick as an adult's arm swept through the ground!

An Nanjing! Yang Ye’s heart sank. He waved his right hand and transformed into a ray of light that shot towards the distance.

Yang Ye felt more and more shocked as he travelled towards them. Because he noticed that the state of the ground was growing more and more terrifying as he got closer to them. For example, the ground beneath him right now had collapsed by over 300m deep!

Regardless of whether it was An Nanjing or Unseeing, both their strengths had greatly exceeded Yang Ye’s expectations!

It wasn’t long before Yang Ye saw An Nanjing and Unseeing. At this moment, Unseeing was on his right knee, and the violet spear in his hand had a violet colored spearhead now. However, half of it was broken. Moreover, Yang Ye noticed an injury on Unseeing that stretched from his throat to his stomach, and it was so deep that Yang Ye could even see Unseeing’s internal organs!

Yang Ye swiftly turned around to look at An Nanjing, and his pupils instantly constricted into the size of a needle.

Because An Nanjing’s left hand was gone….