Shrouded Sky

Chapter 204 - Young Demon Lord

Sunset Clouds Sect was nestled among eighteen verdant mountains, each cloaked in faint mist, with flowing springs and cascading waterfalls creating a dreamy haze. Below the green peaks, streams wound gently, lush vegetation exuding a subtle emerald glow.

Ye Fan stood amidst the mountains and waters, feeling nature’s embrace, showing no trace of tension despite facing ten formidable opponents.

“You’re the one who wants me to move, to establish a sect here?” Sunset Clouds' Sect Master, with jet-black hair and a flowing beard, appeared no older than forty. His vitality surged like a furnace, exuding intensity.

“Indeed, I have that intention. This place, with its clear waters and lush mountains, suits me perfectly,” Ye Fan replied, standing by a shimmering pool, his tall figure reflected in the water.

“At your age, such audacity, coveting Sunset Clouds' beauty! Is this the conduct your elders taught you?” a Grand Elder scolded coldly.

Ye Fan chuckled. “You’re lecturing me on morality? The miners who died, whom should they blame? The bandits, or you? What I’m doing mirrors your actions. If you call me barbaric, what about you? Compared to your deeds, mine are but trivial. A sect, no matter its size, carries a legacy, yet you back bandits, plundering and killing innocents. You’re a festering plague in this region!”

“Don’t spout nonsense!” another Grand Elder barked.

Ye Fan laughed coldly. “I’ve stormed your gates. No one else is here, you don’t need to hide behind false righteousness. Your honor is filthier than the dust beneath my feet.”

“A sect’s growth requires tough measures to thrive,” the Sect Master said gravely.

“Hahaha…” Ye Fan’s laughter turned icy. “Such noble excuses, such righteous tones.”

“Perhaps we’ve gone too far, but it doesn’t harm the region’s core,” the Sect Master replied calmly, suspecting Ye Fan might be from a major power.

“Perhaps too far?” Ye Fan spun, pointing at Lei Bo nearby. “He had a sister, young and beautiful, from a happy family. Your bandit-disciples, acting like beasts, humiliated and killed her, shrouding her family in grief.”

Lei Bo, clutching his hair, crouched in agony. “Your disciples abduct miners, beating those who resist, even sixty- or seventy-year-old elders, nearly to death,” Ye Fan continued.

“Just isolated incidents,” a Grand Elder dismissed.

“Isolated?” Ye Fan shook his head. “One small village of a hundred households saw a young girl violated, an elder nearly beaten to death, and several killed. Across five hundred miles, how many tragedies have you caused? Are you still immortals? Is your sect just a front for justified slaughter and plunder?”

“Brother Ye, avenge my sister... please!” Lei Bo cried out.

“Grandpa Zhang was beaten but survived,” Wang Shu added, voice trembling. “But three childhood friends of ours were beaten to death.”

“What more do you have to say?” Ye Fan glared at them.

“Only our strength can stabilize this region. In time, the bandits will vanish,” an elderly Grand Elder claimed.

“You don’t feel guilt speaking such words?” Ye Fan scanned them. “I believe only wiping you out will end this region’s suffering and bring peace.”

“Such arrogance! You think you alone can destroy our sect?” a hot-tempered Grand Elder snapped, brows inverted.

“Which power are you from?” another demanded, wary of killing a major faction’s heir and inviting disaster.

“I’m a mere wanderer, no need for your concerns,” Ye Fan said, stepping lightly toward the Sect Master.

The Grand Elders exchanged glances, killing intent flaring. One said, “Kill him. It’s the only way.”

The Sect Master’s face darkened, shouting to distant disciples, “Seal the gates! They must not escape.”

They saw Ye Fan was their equal in realm. Even with his remarkable combat strength, he couldn’t withstand ten of them. Even great Patriarchs in their youth might not have managed it.

“We meant to spare you, but you leave no path for yourself. Don’t blame our ruthlessness!”

“No matter your origins, we’ll treat you as a wanderer and kill you!”

They sneered, intent on slaying Ye Fan, offering no chance of survival.

“I should thank you for your words. After hearing you, my conscience is now clear. Today, Sunset Clouds will become history, erased forever!” Ye Fan’s robes fluttered by the pool, surrounded by fragrant flora, his presence pure yet heart-stoppingly intense.

Distant Sunset Clouds disciples shivered, recalling his earlier display. This youth, seemingly harmless, was a demon king whose actions shook souls with unmatched might.

“Strike! Kill him, don’t let him leave!”

Ten Dao Palace cultivators, each with one god-spirit cultivated, attacked together, their combined power terrifying. Their weapons, fused with their deities, were exponentially stronger.

The Sect Master’s bronze lamp, infused with his heart’s god-spirit, a radiant sun, glowed like a celestial lantern, casting flames that evaporated a nearby waterfall, cloaking the area in misty vapor.

Boom.

Ye Fan swung his fist at the lamp, his golden fist surging like an ancient war chariot, shaking the sky. The mist between the peaks cleared, revealing a pristine world. His godpower, like an ocean, stunned the Sect Master and elders.

At such an age, such immense combat strength marked him as either a rare genius or a sacred ground’s elite. “We’re engaged, no turning back. Take him down, then decide whether to refine or kill him after learning his origins,” they thought, wary.

The ten’s weapons blocked Ye Fan’s fist, flames and lightning clashing, divine sounds echoing. “He’s too strong. He must be eliminated!” the Sect Master thought, fearing Ye Fan’s growth would leave them powerless in a year or two.

A Grand Elder whistled, spitting a black light, forming eighty-one black lotuses to escort a humanoid black figure toward Ye Fan.

“Black Lotus Soul-Burning, Form-Slaying, Spirit-Destroying!” he shouted.

The lotuses bloomed, weaving with the figure into a celestial ghost, lunging at Ye Fan to tear his soul and godpower. “Mere firefly glow!” Ye Fan scoffed, hands tracing arcs, unleashing the Nine Secrets’ War Paragon Art.

A boundless golden ocean appeared behind him, waves surging. As he punched, the ocean formed a dragon, soaring with his fist, its roar echoing across Sunset Clouds.

Unstoppable, the dragon fist shattered the eighty-one lotuses and the ghostly figure into dust. “No escape!” Ye Fan charged, locking onto the elder.

The others couldn’t stop him. The elder, the spearhead of their assault, was targeted. Ye Fan rushed forward, dragon soaring, stirring storms like a divine lord. Pop. One punch shattered the elder’s body, vanishing like a fleeting illusion.

A powerful Grand Elder, killed in one strike! The remaining nine trembled at his attack’s might. Though not a full joint effort, the elder was their vanguard, yet Ye Fan crushed him cleanly.

The distant disciples paled. Ten experts couldn’t stop him, losing one instead. “Which Sacred Ground are you from?” the Sect Master demanded.

“Must I be from a Sacred Ground to have this strength?” Ye Fan’s ocean vanished, and he stepped forward like a cloud, graceful and agile.

“Refine him!” Nine god-spirits surged from their Dao Palaces, eighteen figures forming a net to trap Ye Fan.

Unfazed, Ye Fan formed the Lunar Seal with his left hand and the Solar Seal with his right, as if guiding celestial bodies. A millstone-sized moon spun before his left hand, a sun before his right, exuding supreme pressure, as if he were a god moving the heavens.

Even distant disciples trembled. Such an unseen, unheard-of killing art chilled their bones. “Such terrifying combat power!” the Grand Elders exclaimed, struggling against Ye Fan.

“Even great Patriarchs in their youth were likely no better.”

“Is he a young Patriarch? How else could he have such strength?”

“If not a Sacred Ground’s heir, his potential is even scarier, could he be a legendary God Physique?”

Ye Fan, wielding the Lunar and Solar Seals, drove the massive celestial bodies across the sky, shaking the heavens, unstoppable.