An Nanjing’s expression changed when she heard the enormous explosions resounding from below while she engaged the Dragon Guard in intense battle. She swung Skysplit horizontally, and a crescent of light flashed forward and blasted away a few Dragon Guards who stood before her.

An Nanjing looked down. At this moment, the ground below was enveloped by blood red tornados, and the rumbling of more and more Blood Guards detonating themselves resounded incessantly.

It took only a few breaths of time for all the Blood Guards to detonate themselves!

Every single one of them was a profounder at the peak of the Exalt Realm, and the cultivation techniques they cultivated was a secret technique of the Exalted Han Empire that had been inherited from the ancient times. So, every single one of them was far stronger than an ordinary Exalt Realm profounder, so the blast from their self-detonation was naturally much more terrifying than an ordinary profounder!

As those blood red tornadoes appeared successively, it wasn’t long before the entrance of the city transformed into a blood red vortex, and all the buildings around it were blasted apart and transformed into powder!

As for Yang Ye who was at the center of the vortex….

An Nanjing’s heart sank slightly when she witnessed such a scene.

Suddenly, a ray of light shot into the sky from within the vortex, and then a few thousand strands of sword qi shot up along with it. Merely an instant passed before countless holes were pierced open within the vortex, and then the blood red vortex lasted for just another moment before it slowly dispersed towards the surroundings.

Yang Ye appeared before the eyes of everyone.

At this moment, Yang Ye was in a sorry state indeed. His intent sword had shattered into pieces, blood was flowing incessantly from the corners of his mouth, and his clothes weren’t able to cover his body any longer, causing huge amounts of dragon scales to be exposed. Moreover, scarlet red blood was seeping out from beneath the dragon scales.

Yang Ye wiped off the blood on the corners of his mouth, and then he closed his eyes slowly.

This time, he understood that while his physical body was very formidable and even stronger than most Monarch Realm experts, its strength didn’t represent invincibility. He could still suffer injuries.

People were forgetful and lazy. There were things they felt made sense, and they would commit it to memory at the time. But it wouldn’t take long for them to forget it if nothing happened to jolt their memories.

The earlier self-detonations of the Blood Guard had injured him, but he’d thought that it was impossible for him to be injured from the explosions. He was wrong, so he paid a price for his mistake.

Yang Ye took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and said, “Why do I feel like my path towards the Martial Dao has only just begun?”

Bang!

An Nanjing arrived by his side and asked, “Are you alright?”

Yang Ye shook his head and said, “It isn’t serious. What about you?”

She sized him up and confirmed that it was the truth before she said, “I’m fine. They can’t harm me!”

When she spoke up to this point, she raised her head and gazed at the Dragon Guard’s members who’d knocked their arrows and aimed at them. She said, “Should we continue killing?”

Yang Ye replied, “Are you tired of it?”

She shook her head in response to that, “I told you, I’ll accompany you!”

Yang Ye roared with laughter as he stretched his hand forward, and an intent sword condensed within his grasp. He said, “Of course we have to kill them. Let me see how many people are willing to die for the Exalted Han Empire.” As he spoke, his figure had charged up into the sky towards those Gold Guards.

“Kill them all!” There were no emotions on An Nanjing’s face as she stomped her right foot against the ground. The ground instantly collapsed while her figure transformed into a ray of golden light that shot into the sky after Yang Ye.

Yin Xuan’er withdrew her gaze from Yang Ye and An Nanjing, and then she spoke softly, “No one can stop them unless it’s a Half-Saint.”

The grey robed man said, “Yang Ye’s a madman, an even greater madman than the Sword Sect’s Founding Ancestor. His insane character will make many enemies for him in the future. Some are those he can afford to offend, but there are even more whom he can’t. For example, the Hallowed Grounds. If it disregards the cost, then it’ll be able to annihilate Yang Ye with ease. It’s the same for the Undertaker. However, they aren’t willing to pay such a price for now, and they don’t dare to do so either!”

Yin Xuan’er gazed at the grey robed man and said, “Is that why you’re not trying to draw him over to our side?”

He replied, “I can’t, and I don’t want to. His character makes it so that it's very easy for him to cause trouble, and it’s too extreme as well. He raises his sword in the face of even the slightest conflict. I don’t want to bring a disaster back to my sect.”

Yin Xuan’er fell silent, and she didn’t tell him about the tiny vortex within Yang Ye’s body. She hadn’t told anyone about it, including this Grand Preceptor who she once trusted to the extreme. The reason she hadn’t spoken about it in the past was because Yang Ye’s life would definitely be in danger if the Grand Preceptor or anyone else found out about it. The reason she hadn’t spoken about it now was because the Grand Preceptor seemed more and more unfamiliar to her. To put it simply, she didn’t trust him!

“They’ve been annihilated!” Meanwhile, the grey robed man spoke abruptly.

Yin Xuan’er restrained her thoughts and looked over. At this moment, only Yang Ye and An Nanjing remained in the air, and the ground below was covered in numerous enormous bone dragons and the corpses of the members of the Dragon Guard.

Yang Ye withdrew a few dozen extreme-grade energy stones and placed them in An Nanjing’s hand before he started walking towards the distance with the scarlet red and gorgeous intent sword in his grasp.

An Nanjing followed behind Yang Ye.

“He really should be called a Sword Demon!” The grey robed man spoke as he watched Yang Ye and An Nanjing leave, “Not a single Sword Emperor of the past has been so bloodthirsty as he is. It’s no wonder that the Heaven Dao is unable to tolerate his existence. He possessed such strength and potential yet is such a madman. How can anyone tolerate his existence?”

“If it doesn’t tolerate him, then he’ll defy the heavens!” said Yin Xuan’er.

“I firmly believe that!” The grey robed man replied, “The similarity between him and the Sword Sect’s Founding Ancestor is that they’re both geniuses in the Sword Dao. The difference is that Yang Ye is much more ruthless and merciless than the Unfettered One. In his opinion, it doesn’t matter if a person is good or bad; a person deserves death so long as that person becomes his enemy. Conversely, while the Unfettered One killed decisively as well, he had benevolence in him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spared the Exalted Han Empire all those years ago. But if Yang Ye took the Unfettered One’s place all those years ago, then the Exalted Han Empire would have probably been annihilated.”

“Grand Preceptor, do you hope that he lives or dies?” Yin Xuan’er spoke abruptly.

The grey robed man didn’t hesitate with his reply, “I hope he lives. Because he’ll make the Hallowed Grounds pay a horrible price.”

She asked, “You have enmity with the Hallowed Grounds?”

The grey robed man, “There are some things that I can only explain when the time comes!”

Yin Xuan’er fell silent, and she looked towards Yang Ye and An Nanjing instead.

Yang Ye and An Nanjing’s objective was the Exalted Han Empire’s palace. Profounders constantly launched surprise attacks against them all along the way, but they were killed without exception!

An Nanjing and Yang Ye stopped when they were still a few kilometers away from the imperial palace. At least 30,000 profounders were standing before them, and all of these profounders were at the King Realm, Spirit Realm, and Exalt Realm.

An Exalt Realm profounder who led the group pointed his sword at Yang Ye as he said, “Yang Ye, we know that we can’t stop the two of you. However, you have to step over our dead bodies if you want to destroy our Exalted Han Empire!”

Swish!

A strand of sword qi flashed through the sky, and then that Exalt Realm expert’s head flew into the air.

All the other profounders were horrified!

Yang Ye sheathed his intent sword within the ancient sheath, and then he waved his right hand. An ancient portrait appeared before him, and it was naturally the World Portrait. He’d asked the World Portrait to return when the Exalted Han Empire attacked the southern territory that day. Even though the tiny vortex possessed similar capabilities, he absolutely couldn’t allow others whom he didn’t trust to possess knowledge of it.

The World Portrait returned to his human form and waved his right hand, and then over 10,000 Exalt Realm experts appeared before Yang Ye.

Yang Ye gazed at Ding Shaoyao who led the group and said, “Kill all those who resist or are our enemies. Kill and refuse any who try to surrender, understand?”

A wisp of hesitation flashed through Ding Shaoyao’s eyes. Even though she really didn’t agree to Yang Ye’s actions, she didn’t defy him in public and nodded to him.

“Kill!” She turned around and gazed at the group of profounders from the Exalted Han Empire, and her icy cold voice resounded.

“Kill!”

The group of over 10,000 Exalt Realm experts tore through space and instantly arrived before the troops of the Exalted Han Empire, and then shrill cries resounded incessantly.

Yang Ye didn’t spare another glance at the battlefield. He turned around and gazed at the World Portrait who had taken human form, and he said, “I’ll be troubling Senior with taking care of them. Take them away immediately if something unexpected occurs later. Especially Herby. She must be kept safe no matter what!”

Ding Shaoyao glanced at Yang Ye yet remained quiet.

The old man gazed at Yang Ye while he sighed with emotion in his heart. Just not too long ago, Yang Ye wasn’t even able to resist Monarch Realm experts. Yet now, even he didn’t have the slightest confidence to defeat Yang Ye. Even he was astonished by Yang Ye’s speed of improvement.

The old man nodded and said, “Don’t worry about them. I’ve used my aura to lock onto every one of them, so I’m able to immediately pull them into the World Portrait if anything unexpected occurs. You, on the other hand, should be careful. This imperial capital suddenly started making me feel uncomfortable from a while ago. I’m unable to figure out exactly what it is. At any rate, you have to be careful!”

“Watch out for the Monarch Realm experts of the Exalted Han Empire as well!” Ding Shaoyao spoke in a low voice, “Agreements are completely meaningless at a moment of life and death. The Exalted Han Empire definitely understands such a principle. But there hasn’t been a single Monarch Realm expert until now, and that’s very strange.”

Yang Ye nodded. He knew that something was off as well. However, what else could he do? Could he retreat back to the southern territory now?

He could only advance!

Yang Ye said, “Let’s go! Let’s see exactly what trump cards the Exalted Han Empire has to even make that Grand Preceptor from before feel so fearful of it!”

Yang Ye’s figure flashed swiftly towards the imperial palace with An Nanjing by his side.

It wasn’t long before they arrived before it.