Ye Fan held a skeptical attitude towards the words of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Woman. No one could ascertain the attributes of Ta Ning, as it would not accept any detection of Spiritual Energy internally.

The Nine Heavens Mysterious Woman had mentioned that Ta Ning was not man-made but a natural synthesis. How could she know that Ta Ning possessed extremely cold attributes?

Even if it did have extremely cold attributes, it could still be compatible with Li Zhaojun since Li Zhaojun could place Ta Ning into his personal space, whereas Ye Fan could not. If he were truly Ta Ning's owner, would Ta Ning not recognize its own master?

In Ye Fan's view, the words of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Woman were contradictory, and he felt no need to trust the words of a complicated woman at this moment.

After searching the mountain without success in finding the whereabouts of the Divine Artifact, everyone finally gathered around Ye Fan.

To prevent any oversight, Ye Fan also sent out the spirit of Little Purple Crystal to search. Little Purple Crystal went around and returned to tell Ye Fan that there were not even dead spirits nearby, which reassured her. Only Ye Fan and Mo Xiaoyan could see the spirit of Little Purple Crystal; the women present were unaware of the existence of Purple Crystal.

"For now, we have no leads. Let's head to the An Nan Domain," Ye Fan said.

Sang Yuan suddenly received a message through a Jade Talisman and approached Ye Fan, saying, "Master, we've tracked down Yuan from the Imperial Sect. Shall we send someone to pursue and eliminate him?"

"Where is he?" Ye Fan asked.

"He's at Kongjian Mountain in the Jialuo Domain, surrounded by over ten disciples, but he still resists stubbornly," Sang Yuan replied.

Ye Fan nodded and said, "Then find your position and send us there."

Sang Yuan hesitated and said, "Please forgive me, Master. My ability to pinpoint time and space is completely invalid here at Heavenly Peak Mountain. Time here seems independently preserved, making it impossible to open a time-space gate."

Ye Fan had anticipated that if Sang Yuan could open an exit from Heavenly Peak Mountain, it could transport them inside. Heavenly Peak Mountain would no longer be a forbidden place for Immortal-level individuals. He nodded and said, "Then once we exit Heavenly Peak Mountain, we'll transport directly."

...

...

Originally intending to go directly to An Nan Domain, Ye Fan now had to personally send Elder Yuan to King Yan's Halls, upon finding his whereabouts.

When they arrived at Kongjian Mountain, Elder Yuan was already at the end of his rope, surrounded by a multitude of experts. There was no need for Ye Fan to make a move himself; with a few more exchanges, Elder Yuan would soon meet his end. Elder Yuan's face was stained with blood and appeared vicious. He had just repelled a cultivator from the Divinity Transformation Stage, hoping to escape through an opening, but was struck in the back by a cultivator of the late Integration stage, collapsing onto the ground. Several people moved forward to suppress Elder Yuan's power points, leaving him powerless to resist.

"Master, this Yuan individual has reached the Mahayana Realm and has some skills. Shall we capture him and torture him slowly, letting him die in agony?" Sang Yuan suggested, well-versed in dealing with enemies, which was her prerequisite for holding her own against the seven major sects for so long from the shadows.

Ye Fan glanced at Sang Yuan, thinking it was fortunate that she had pledged allegiance, or even if he united the seven major sects, he would not be able to challenge a "warlord" like Sang Yuan.

Ye Fan said, "This man has malicious intentions, indiscriminately killing many innocents, and has even recruited demons to harm me. Yet all is due to revenge for his grandson. His grandson was wicked and died as he deserved, but I don't want to be criticized by the seven sects, so give him a quick death."

Sang Yuan bowed respectfully and said, "Yes, Master."

Sang Yuan stepped forward to stand before Elder Yuan. While he was tough against the previous cultivators, in front of Sang Yuan, he lacked even the strength to struggle. Sang Yuan's cultivation level was far superior, making the gap between her and Elder Yuan like heaven and earth; killing him was easier than crushing an ant.

"Ye Fan, you wicked soul, you won't die well! Even as a ghost, I won't spare you!" Elder Yuan shouted defiantly.

"Our master is right before you, and you dare disrespect him! I could chop off your Nascent Soul piece by piece and have you watch as dogs devour your flesh!" Sang Yuan said fiercely.

As they were about to kill him, Ye Fan said to Li Zhaojun, Lan Jing, and Min Shang, "Let's leave this to Sang Yuan; we should depart for now."

"Hmm." Li Zhaojun understood Ye Fan's intentions. It's better to avoid watching brutal acts of killing to prevent awakening the bloody side of one's heart.

Before they took a few steps, Sang Yuan had already "executed" Elder Yuan, crushing his Nascent Soul, and Elder Yuan perished in an instant.

But at that very moment, a rush of dark Demonic Qi approached rapidly. Ye Fan quickly realized it was a demon, raising a defense with Spiritual Energy, but the demon's attack was directed not at Ye Fan but at Sang Yuan, who had just killed Elder Yuan.

"You little girl, killing... not fun!" The demon had just acquired Elder Yuan's precious ability to control spirit and will via methods and medications but hadn't learned them before Elder Yuan was killed, which enraged the demon.

This, in the demon's judgment, was classified as "not fun."

Although Sang Yuan's cultivation was already extremely advanced, she was slightly inadequate against the demon. Surprised and rushed to battle, her defense was quite cumbersome.

"Not good." Ye Fan sensed a crisis. At this moment, no shadowed figure would come to rescue, so they must confront the demon head-on. Sang Yuan was evidently in a disadvantageous position during the previous battle against the demon. It all depended on whether Ye Fan's Copper Mirror could use its unique ability to reflect the Demonic Qi to turn the tide.

"Waaaa ..." As the demon chased Sang Yuan to kill her, suddenly feeling a wave of Demonic Qi assaulting from behind, he realized it was of the same nature as his own and that even the intensity of attack matched, frightening him into dodging.

The demon was confident that his Demonic Qi was invincible, so even though what Ye Fan reflected at him was merely a portion of his own emitted Demonic Qi, he would still dodge.

"You humans, little kids, not fun, not playing with you anymore!"

The demon, not being at his strongest during daylight, directly whisked away Elder Yuan's corpse and vanished into the shadows, disappearing without a trace.

Sang Yuan, having not fully recovered from the battle earlier, returned to Ye Fan's side and respectfully said, "Thank you, Master, for saving me."

"I didn't have the ability to save you," Ye Fan replied.

"It was you who saved me, Master; I could feel it. I know this is related to Master… Thank you, Master?" Sang Yuan knew Ye Fan possessed the Copper Mirror, yet realized it was Ye Fan's secret, thus did not dare to reveal it.

Li Zhaojun, still shaken, asked, "Why did the demon take Elder Yuan's corpse away?"

Ye Fan frowned and said, "I fear he wishes to resurrect Elder Yuan. Those who practice dark magic can manipulate the power of dead souls, and as long as a person has been dead for less than three hours, and shape and spirit have not yet dispersed, they can be resurrected by dark magic practitioners."

"Master, how do you know all this?" Sang Yuan asked in surprise, "I wasn't aware of this before."

Ye Fan pondered and said, "I vaguely remember seeing it somewhere, but I can't recall where at the moment."

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