He raised his left hand and gently clenched his five fingers into a fist.

In that instant, the world seemed to drain of color.

The clouds above the palace walls suddenly parted. A boundless amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, as if tugged by a black hole, transformed into a pillar of golden light that descended from the sky, enveloping Xu Yunfan.

An aura as vast as the ocean emanated from him. Every wisp of it felt as heavy as a mountain, pressing down on the surroundings until the very air seemed to subtly distort.

The smile on You Quan’s face froze.

The purple-black flame in his palm suddenly extinguished. The giant serpent let out a mournful cry and dissipated into black smoke.

What chilled him to the bone, however, was that the surging True Essence within his body had stagnated like dead water. No matter how he tried to circulate it, it wouldn’t budge an inch.

This was no ordinary suppression. His power had been completely sealed by Xu Yunfan’s abyssal True Qi.

That True Qi was as overwhelming as a hundred thousand mountains crashing down. It was so thick it had become almost a tangible liquid. Every wisp was immensely heavy, locking down all the acupoints in his body and even freezing the flow of True Essence in his meridians.

"Foundation Establishment?! No, this... this is impossible!"

You Quan’s face twisted abruptly. The purple mark on his brow split open like tearing silk, revealing a sinister, bloodshot vertical eye.

A bloody light swirled within the vertical pupil as it stared fixedly at him. "The Celestial Dao of this realm is incomplete, and its Spirit Veins are withered! It’s impossible to even maintain a basic Celestial Cycle... How could you possibly have completed Foundation Establishment?! The system of the Divine Martial Realm can’t support such an ascension! It’s absolutely impossible! You’re just a native of this World Heaven!"

His voice was a mixture of shock and jealous hatred, the last few words practically squeezed through his teeth.

Xu Yunfan said nothing, only took a single step forward.

That one step was enough to make You Quan stumble back as if struck by lightning.

The Celestial Demon’s handsome face contorted, and fear finally appeared in his eyes.

"A thousand-year slumber has caused you to miss many things."

Xu Yunfan’s tone was still calm, yet it carried an unquestionable authority. "For instance, what it truly means to be a Land Immortal in my case."

He raised his right hand and swung the Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer.

There was no flashy technique, no earth-shattering display of power—just a simple swing.

And yet, You Quan felt an indescribable force wash over him, tearing through all the defenses he had hastily erected as if they were made of paper.

"BANG!"

You Quan’s body flew backward like a rag doll, crashing heavily against the palace wall.

The sturdy wall spiderwebbed with cracks as stone fragments flew through the air.

He struggled to his feet, purple-black blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"No... This is impossible..."

You Quan hissed, "How can a Martial Artist from the Lower Realm possess this kind of power?"

His eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the torrential, abyssal sea of True Qi surrounding Xu Yunfan.

The True Qi was so dense it was nearly tangible, forming layered vortexes of Gang Qi around Xu Yunfan. Every wisp carried a suffocating pressure.

A complex light, a mixture of greed and fear, flickered in You Quan’s vertical eye. Such a terrifying reserve of True Qi... even if its quality was slightly inferior to True Essence, a quantitative change could lead to a qualitative one. A torrent of True Qi on this scale was enough to overwhelm and crush an existence like his, just as a swarm of ants can devour an elephant.

"How did you do it?!"

’If every person in the Land Immortal Realm is like this, what’s the point of us even coming here? We’d just be serving ourselves up on a platter.’

Xu Yunfan didn’t answer, merely continuing his slow advance.

With every step, the bricks of the palace wall trembled slightly, as if unable to bear his weight.

You Quan finally realized the gravity of the situation.

This human Cultivator before him was nothing like the so-called Land Immortal experts he knew of.

The power to command the Power of Heaven and Earth with a mere gesture was something that, even in the records of the Primordial Sect, only a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master could achieve.

"Wait!"

You Quan hurriedly raised a hand, his voice now devoid of its earlier arrogance. "We can talk! This one... I know the secrets of this realm! The path of advancement for the Martial Dao in your Divine Martial Realm has been completely sealed. No matter how much you cultivate, you’ll never break through your limits. I can guide you to the Immortal Dao! And there are also the hidden..."

’Truly worthy of a Demon Dao Cultivator—so arrogant before, so subservient now. It’s almost laughable.’

Xu Yunfan shook his head. "There’s no need. Anything I want to know, I’ll take for myself."

He raised the Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer again. This time, a dark light flowed across the hammer’s head, which seemed to contain the might of a thousand mountains as it descended upon his foe.

You Quan’s expression changed drastically, and he turned to flee. But with his first step, he discovered that the space around him had been completely locked down, preventing even a single wisp of his True Essence from escaping.

"No, it can’t be!"

’The Divine Martial Realm is just a Lower Realm Celestial World for the Primordial Sect to harvest during Qi Cultivation Stage trials. How are we supposed to play if a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master suddenly appears?’

You Quan let out a desperate roar. The purple mark on his brow opened completely, erupting with streams of True Essence as he attempted to form various Wonderful Techniques in a final struggle.

Xu Yunfan gently swung the hammer down.

"BOOM!"

A flash of golden light shot past, and You Quan’s body, as if struck by an impossibly immense force, instantly exploded.

The purple-black Demon Qi scattered and tried to flee.

’Just as I thought!’

’This guy’s Life Force is incredibly strong. He can still use techniques even after his body was destroyed.’

A sharp glint flashed in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. He thrust out his right palm, and his Ten Extremes True Qi surged forth like a raging sea.

The fleeing streams of purple-black Demon Qi were instantly caught as if in a mire, frozen in mid-air by an unseen, tremendous force.

With a clench of his five fingers, the scattered Demon Qi converged like a Hundred Rivers Return to the Sea, letting out piercing shrieks as it was refined by the Ten Extremes True Qi.

"Condense!"

Following his sharp command, the churning Demon Qi was compressed into a fist-sized, purple-black Qi Mass.

Ten Extremes True Qi suddenly flared in Xu Yunfan’s left palm, circulating and transforming into the purest Pure Yang True Gang before he slammed it heavily onto the Qi Mass.

Countless golden patterns instantly appeared on the Qi Mass’s surface, like molten gold from a Melting Furnace flowing over the Demon Qi.

As the Demon Qi roiled violently, it was forcibly refined into a Pill that glowed with an eerie purple light. On its surface, a few struggling, blood-red filaments would occasionally flash.

In the blink of an eye, the once incomparably arrogant You Quan was reduced to nothing more than a few wisps of residual Demon Qi drifting in the air.

Xu Yunfan put away the Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer. The golden light faded, and the world returned to tranquility.

He turned to the dumbfounded Dugu Jiu and smiled faintly. "Now, we can go to the Martial Arts Tower."

Dugu Jiu’s Adam’s apple bobbed. It took him a long moment to find his voice. "Brother Xu... just now, you..."

"I just cleaned up a small nuisance."

Xu Yunfan said nonchalantly, as if he had just swatted a fly. "That person was indeed quite strange. Had it been any other expert in the Land Immortal Realm, they might have truly fallen for his tricks. Unfortunately for him, he ran into me..."

Dugu Jiu was deeply shaken. He could naturally tell that Xu Yunfan was using the methods of the Ten Extremes Martial Arts, but the transformations within were completely beyond his comprehension.

Those few short moves just now made him seem like an expert who had been immersed in the Land Immortal Realm for decades.

He was nothing like someone who had just entered the Realm.

Dugu Jiu took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart.