Chapter 1089: Battle Empress

Ye Fan's right hand transformed into the Sky-Overturning Seal, intricately inscribed with flowing lines and strands of golden runes. With a single strike, he sent Li Ketian flying, causing him to vomit large mouthfuls of blood.

Like lifting a dead duck, Ye Fan instantly seized him, grabbing his sky-blue precious robe and holding him upside down.

"This..." The Golden Race guards rushing forward were aghast. It was all too sudden and extreme; from Ye Fan bursting out of the divine tower to killing the Half-Saint and capturing Li Ketian alive, everything occurred in a flash.

*Pfft*. Ye Fan struck mercilessly. Golden runes flickered between his palm and fingers as he swept across like a golden millstone. Two guards suffered broken bones and torn tendons, their blood splattering high.

"Stop!" the Golden Princess lightly exclaimed.

Ye Fan ignored her. Just moments ago, when he was trapped in the Half-Saint Pagoda forged from Grand Luo Silver Essence, these people had intended to refine him into a pool of pus and blood. How could he possibly stop now?

Holding Li Ketian upside down by his ankles, Ye Fan used him as a human weapon, charging forward into the fray.

Everyone present was somewhat stunned. Ye Fan using a Half-Saint as a weapon against his enemies was truly a bit too ferocious, leaving many wide-eyed and speechless.

*Whack!* Holding the human weapon, he struck a Golden Race guard. Blood splattered, and a lifeless corpse was sent flying, its primordial spirit extinguished.

Li Ketian could no longer remain calm, unable to maintain his previous elegant demeanor. His expression was grim, and his lips trembled with rage; this was the first time in his life he had been treated in such a manner.

He had few defeats in his life and was a top-tier Half-Saint. Yet now, to be suppressed by someone of a lower realm and used as a weapon like a bronze ram, was a profound humiliation.

*Clang! Clang!* Ye Fan's glabella flickered as a beam of light, like a vertical eye, appeared. It was an inch-long Dao Sword, ringing sharply, shooting out streaks of sword energy that horizontally sliced through three guards, sending blood rain splattering.

He held Li Ketian and headed straight for the Golden Princess. Wherever he passed, the guards could not resist; any who dared to oppose him inevitably fell dead at his feet.

"He's going for the Golden Princess? What audacity! He just killed the Heavenly Emperor Prince, and now he's confronting another lineage's Ancient Emperor's daughter?"

"This... he's directly attacking the Golden Race's Celestial Maiden!"

In all directions, people whispered, their faces changing color. This powerful figure, presumed to be Ye Fan, was indeed utterly fearless and reckless.

"Enough!" the Golden Princess coldly rebuked, her expression cold and arrogant. From her golden pupils, two brilliant beams of light shot out towards Ye Fan. They moved like rotating suns and moons, causing the sky to rumble, imbuing them with limitless Dao marks.

Ye Fan was fearless. He flicked a finger and said, "You say 'enough' and it's enough? Weren't you just helping Li Ketian try to deal with me?"

From his fingertip, golden sword waves vibrated out, like a giant rock dropped into a great lake in the divine realm. Golden ripples rapidly spread in all directions, undoubtedly fatal.

*Pfft! Pfft!* The seven or eight Golden Guards surrounding him were struck by the golden ripples. Each of them exploded, turning into a mist of blood, unable to even let out a grunt.

All around, it was utterly silent. People dared not even breathe loudly. This person, presumed to be Ye Fan, made them feel suffocated with his overwhelming and fierce power, his heaven-defying methods.

If Saints did not appear, who could contend with him?

In this era, truly almost no one could rein him in. First, he slew the Heavenly Emperor Prince, and now he confronted the Golden Princess, putting him completely at odds with the Ancient Emperor's descendants.

Now, even though Ye Fan had not admitted it or said anything, almost everyone guessed that the Holy Body had returned!

"You've already offended dozens, even hundreds, of clans; do you still wish to be an enemy of my Golden Race?" The Golden Princess's golden gaze met the sword waves, and between them, a dazzling and colorful display erupted like fireworks.

"I don't wish to cause trouble, but I don't fear it either," Ye Fan said. "Since you came for me, I have no choice but to draw my blade against you." Ye Fan immediately attacked, holding Li Ketian with one hand and forming a seal with the other. A black mountain flew out, crashing towards the Golden Princess.

"I wasn't specifically targeting you; I was merely helping Li Ketian, using my Golden Pupils to find a few people for him," the Golden Princess said. "However, since you see it that way, there's nothing more to say." The Golden Princess was quite unyielding, bothering not to explain. Her golden hair shimmered, and she immediately unleashed an Ancient Emperor Art.

Her snow-white jade fingers, as firm as sacred weapons, shattered the black mountain and struck towards Ye Fan's glabella. *Clang!* It sounded like divine metal striking as Ye Fan blocked with his hand, stopping her offensive.

Subsequently, amidst sparks and flashes, the two exchanged thousands of blows. Figures blurred and darted, so fast that people were dazzled; no one could keep up with their speed.

During this process, Ye Fan continued to use Li Ketian as a bronze ram, one hand forming a fist, the other wielding the human weapon, as he fought the Golden Princess.

Li Ketian, caught in the middle, felt deeply suffocated and frustrated. Once, he was proud and revered, surrounded like the moon among stars wherever he went. Now, he was a prisoner, turned into a weapon in another's hands.

In the distance, Wang Xu's face was ashen, filled with both shock and rage. He turned and left immediately, intending to find his master.

*Boom!* Suddenly, a great azure dragon flew forth, coiling around Wang Xu's waist and carrying him into the battlefield. This was the True Dragon Seal unleashed by Ye Fan.

"Trying to leave... is that possible?" Ye Fan instantly grabbed him.

He held one in each hand, attacking the Golden Princess with a pair of human weapons. The two combatants transformed into streaks of lightning, continuously colliding.

The Ancient Emperor's own daughter possessed endless potential and terrifying strength. Golden blood flowed within her, and her entire body radiated immortal light; every strike was earth-shattering.

Although she was a woman, her methods defied heaven, and her profound arts were astonishing. Her Golden Art was unparalleled in the world; several times, she nearly turned Ye Fan into stone or metal, her combat power awe-inspiring.

*Rumble!* The Ancient Emperor's daughter's blood thrummed like thunder and tsunamis, terrifying many spectators who quickly retreated. Every drop of her blood contained the inherited power of the Ancient Emperor.

In this current era, who would dare to contend with the Holy Body's physical prowess in close combat? Only those of Emperor's Son level. Although the Golden Princess appeared graceful and peerlessly beautiful, when she fought, she was like the reincarnation of a goddess of war.

Her golden hair, each sway tearing through the void like a pulsating beam of the brightest sunlight, ensured that every single strike ripped apart heaven and earth.

The two battled fiercely, fighting from the great wilderness back to the plateau's great tomb, and then from the tomb into the myriad mountains and valleys. They fought until heaven and earth lost their color, and the sun and moon lost their light.

The Golden Princess was shocked. She had always been proud, and in the Primordial Era, she was unrivaled among her peers; no one could last ten moves against her. She proudly overlooked the Primordial Era, hailed as the most astonishing woman of all time.

Yet now, she had met such a formidable enemy. In their continuous battles, the opponent grew stronger with each clash, as if divine radiance lay dormant within him, causing a stinging pain in her golden pupils.

This had never happened before!

"Indeed," she thought, "no wonder Father said that if I were to revive in this era, I would certainly encounter rivals and likely not be unrivaled." She recalled the Golden Emperor's words.

This was a grand era, where not only she but also other Ancient Emperor's descendants would revive, waiting for the path to immortality to open. No one could claim absolute invincibility.

Now, several Ancient Emperor's descendants had emerged, and even the descendants of ancient Great Emperors had appeared. In the past, they were all peerless geniuses who swept across their respective eras, but now that they met, it was hard to determine who was stronger or weaker.

*Bang!* After the 1700th move, the Golden Princess's golden pupils suddenly blazed with intense light. Her snow-white, jade-like beauty, which overshadowed the world, suddenly erupted with killing intent, as a pair of slender jade hands struck out.

Ye Fan, as usual, used the pair of human weapons to block. The Golden Princess frowned slightly, changing her profound art. She pressed down from a distance, her slender hand slicing through the void, heading straight for Ye Fan's throat, aiming to sever his head.

Ye Fan retreated, employing the "Stride" art.

Suddenly, the Golden Princess brought her hands together, forming a strange posture where they resembled a crystal vase. With a deafening boom, heaven and earth exploded!

From the crystal vase flew out a sheet of golden immortal light. Its destructive power was terrifyingly immense and incredibly swift, enveloping everything within, disregarding the lives of Li Ketian and Wang Xu.

Ye Fan's expression changed. This was definitely an Ancient Emperor's forbidden secret art, more terrifying than the Yuan Emperor's Dao Sword and even stronger than the Heavenly Emperor Prince's Divine Spirit Art. This woman was extremely formidable.

Golden Immortal Light!

This was a secret art the Ancient Emperor comprehended just before his demise. It surpassed worldly techniques; if an ancient Great Emperor had wielded it, strands of immortal power would surely have appeared.

Ye Fan's expression changed as he sensed danger. Although his opponent was a woman, she was even more formidable than the Heavenly Emperor Prince!

*Boom!* Li Ketian and Wang Xu both exploded. They didn't even have time to scream before their forms and spirits were utterly annihilated; they were completely obliterated.

The Golden Princess's strike was decisive and fierce. She charged through the blood mist, holding the crystal vase in both hands, spewing forth golden immortal light whose destructive power was world-shaking.

Ye Fan felt goosebumps all over his body. He knew his opponent might disregard Wang Xu's life or death, but he hadn't expected her to kill even Li Ketian, just to gravely wound him!

This woman was ruthless enough!

Li Ketian was the favored disciple of an extraterrestrial Saint, yet she killed him without hesitation, merely to injure Ye Fan and find an opportunity to kill him!

Ye Fan raised both fists to meet the attack. From his fingertips, golden light blazed fiercely, rapidly spreading to his arms, turning them golden as his vital blood surged.

"It really is the Holy Body... golden fists and vital blood!"

Someone exclaimed, but quickly fell silent, their face filled with shock, unable to help but tremble.

Because a wave of golden light, like an ocean, spread in all directions, as if a golden forbidden divine sea was surging and raging across the sky!

Golden Immortal Light!

In fact, people had already realized that Ye Fan's fists and arms had turned golden due to the light's illumination, and he might have suffered misfortune.

The Golden Princess had never been defeated in her life. She proudly overlooked the Primordial Era, looking down on all under heaven, and was hailed as the Celestial Maiden of the Imperial Clan!

She had revived more than a decade ago but had simply not emerged into the world. Her father had transformed the Dao of Proving that he had walked into a Ten Absolute Imperial Array and left it for her; only in recent years had she completed it and emerged.

This alone was enough to prove that her cultivation was no less than that of the Golden Emperor at the same age!

The Ancient Golden Emperor placed immense hope in her, viewing her as an extension of his own life, and hoping she would enter the Immortal Realm in his stead.

Besides the Ten Absolute Imperial Array, he also refined a Dao Proving Map, condensing within it the most perilous trials experienced by several legendary Ancient Emperors, leaving it for his daughter to conquer.

Over these years, the Golden Princess had been constantly battling, passing through the life-and-death trials of several Ancient Emperors from their youth. Alone, she witnessed the supreme immortal paths of several Ancient Emperors!

Although her emergence this time was not primarily aimed at Ye Fan, she certainly harbored the intention of suppressing him. The Golden King was defeated by the Victorious Fighting Buddha and had to redeem his life with divine marrow, which had left a simmering resentment in the heart of the Ancient Emperor's daughter.

Since the Victorious Fighting Buddha had declared that he would not interfere in the conflicts among those of the same generation, even if she killed the Holy Emperor's son and Ye Fan, no one could say anything.

The golden light was indeed terrifying. Ye Fan's arms were almost solidified, turning into cold gold, on the verge of shattering.

"Revive!" At this critical moment of life and death, he roared. The golden vital blood within his body fully revived, surging out from every pore and illuminating the entire sky.

*Boom!* His arms instantly returned to normal. His fists were still golden, but now full of vitality. One fist struck the crystal immortal vase, and the other slammed towards the Golden Princess's Soul Platform.