"Let's return."
One of the Tianyou Tomb assassins spoke.
Then, these several dozen assassins prepared to leave.
Suddenly.
The assassin who had just wielded the small black sword stiffened abruptly, a look of shock and fury appearing on his face.
He discovered a small sword emitting a terrifying Soul Power pressure had appeared within his soul sea, attacking his Soul Body!
Then.
Roar…
A colossal monster rushed out from space — it was the Roc!
BOOM…
The Roc's pair of wings, spanning hundreds of meters, slashed forward simultaneously, unleashing a vast surge of spatial energy that flooded toward that assassin.
Instantly, the space where the assassin stood began to tremble, distort, and deform. The assassin found his sense of balance faltering.
"Die!"
Ye Yunfei appeared, standing right in front of the assassin, almost chest-to-chest.
BOOM BOOM…
Ye Yunfei's pair of fists lashed out frenziedly, delivering hundreds of punches in an extremely short time — and every single punch was a True Demon God-Slaying Fist!
Caught off guard, the assassin was forced to retreat step by step.
In close-quarters combat like this, physical strength held an absolute advantage!
At the same time.
Hum…
The Five Elements Spirit Swords shot forth, forming the Five Elements Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, homing in to shred the assassin.
Boundless, dazzling sword energy, deep and vast like an abyss and an ocean, completely flooded an area dozens of yards in radius.
BOOM…
A massive golden sphere of light also surged from Ye Yunfei's dantian, rumbling as it smashed toward the assassin.
Within an incredibly brief moment, Ye Yunfei unleashed a barrage of ferocious attacks.
This sudden turn of events was too abrupt, too swift!
This assassin had assumed Ye Yunfei was already dead and had completely let his guard down.
Instantly, he was at a loss and utterly panicked!
The Heavenly Soul Sword, the Roc, the True Demon God-Slaying Fists, the Five Elements Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, and a golden sphere representing the First Yang of the Nine Solar Classic — a torrent of attacks drowned him like rain.
"Ye Yunfei, I'll fight you to the death!"
This assassin proved himself worthy of being a master at the late Primordial Soul Realm, and an experienced one at that. Even in such a frantic situation, he managed to mount a counterattack.
Shiii!
A sword gleaming with cold light thrust toward Ye Yunfei.
Shiii!
That small black sword also shot toward Ye Yunfei once more.
Instead of dodging, Ye Yunfei surged forward.
Puff!
The icy-gleaming sword pierced into Ye Yunfei's right chest, while the small black sword struck the position of his heart.
Puff!
Ye Yunfei's fist struck the assassin's head at the same instant.
Bang!
The assassin's head exploded on the spot, dead and gone.
Ye Yunfei reached out with a grasping motion, seizing the small black sword that was about to turn and fly away.
The assassin was dead, the small black sword lost control, allowing Ye Yunfei to grasp it.
"This artifact is even more useful than the Void Blade!
It's mine now!"
Feeling the small black sword in his palm, Ye Yunfei was quite satisfied.
As for the two wounds on his right chest and heart, they had already begun to heal.
Before the assassin's attack, Ye Yunfei had already been prepared. He had used the Greenwood Emperor Body to shift and relocate all his internal organs. Therefore, his heart and lungs sustained no damage at all!
It was merely equivalent to suffering a superficial flesh wound.
An injury like this was utterly negligible to Ye Yunfei.
Previously, when Ye Yunfei had his heart seemingly pierced and reappeared unscathed, it was also because he had preemptively used the Greenwood Emperor Body to shift his heart to another position.
The Grand Completion realm of the Greenwood Emperor Body possessed several kinds of physical body divine abilities — this was just one of them!
Swoosh!
After obtaining the small black sword, Ye Yunfei immediately vanished into space, disappearing from sight.
In the blink of an eye, from Ye Yunfei's abrupt appearance, unleashing that flurry of ferocious attacks, to killing that Tianyou Tomb assassin — it was all completed within an extremely brief span of time.
Less than two breaths of time!
"Ye Yunfei isn't dead yet!"
Only now did the crowd finally react.
The scene moments ago was too sudden, too shocking.
"Not only is he not dead, he's lively and vigorous, without a single injury on him!"
"But... his heart was clearly pierced!
How could he be completely unharmed?"
...
Shocked exclamations rose up one after another.
"The Dark Thorn is one of the Tianyou Tomb's most treasured artifacts. We must retrieve it!"
The other Tianyou Tomb assassins all charged toward the spot where Ye Yunfei had vanished.
But it was useless.
Ye Yunfei had already entered space; they couldn't detect a single trace of him.
"This time, specifically to deal with Ye Yunfei, the higher-ups had us bring the Dark Thorn. Who would have thought it would fall into Ye Yunfei's hands — what are we going to do now?!"
The assassins were frantic and furious.
At this moment.
Deep within space, inside the Phantom Tower.
Ye Yunfei sat cross-legged, a small black sword no larger than an adult's finger hovering before him.
Ye Yunfei's Soul Power enveloped the small black sword, and he began refining it.
Given Ye Yunfei's experience and insight, refining any artifact under heaven would be an easy task.
Half a day later.
"This artifact is called the Dark Thorn."
Ye Yunfei finally finished refining the small black sword.
The Dark Thorn possessed two main characteristics. The first was spatial property.
The speed at which the Dark Thorn traversed space surpassed even that of the Void Blade!
This was also why Ye Yunfei had been unable to dodge its attack earlier.
The second characteristic was its ability to automatically pursue and kill enemies!
Once the Dark Thorn locked onto a target and was launched, there was no need to manage it further.
It would continuously traverse space on its own, hunting down the locked-on enemy.
Unless the enemy could block it or destroy it!
"Excellent."
After refining the Dark Thorn, Ye Yunfei felt very satisfied.
"That's right!
If I refine the Void Blade *into* the Dark Thorn, it would certainly enhance the Dark Thorn's spatial properties. Its speed and unpredictability when traversing space would become even more formidable!"
Ye Yunfei suddenly had this thought.
No sooner said than done!
Ye Yunfei immediately took out a large artifact-refining cauldron, flicked his fingers, and sent both the Earthflame and the Three Crows Dark Flame into it.
Then, he threw both the Dark Thorn and the Void Blade into the cauldron simultaneously.
Following that, Ye Yunfei first melted down and reforged the Void Blade, reducing it back into a dark, lustrous mass of Void Dark Metal.
Then, he refined this mass of Void Dark Metal into the Dark Thorn.
Several hours later.
"Ready to emerge from the cauldron!"
Ye Yunfei murmured softly.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ye Yunfei pointed a finger at his chest.
Shiii…
A streak of blood shot out, splashing onto the Dark Thorn inside the refining cauldron.
This was a blood sacrifice!
In truth, the Dark Thorn was already a finished artifact; performing a blood sacrifice wasn't strictly necessary and wouldn't affect its power at all.
However, after the blood sacrifice, the connection between Ye Yunfei and this Dark Thorn would become more intimate.
Because it now carried traces of Ye Yunfei's essence and blood!
A moment later.
Ye Yunfei stopped the blood sacrifice and beckoned with his hand.
Shiii…
The Dark Thorn shot out from the refining cauldron and began weaving around Ye Yunfei with astonishing speed.
"Not bad."
A slight smile appeared on Ye Yunfei's lips.
After merging with the Void Blade, the spatial properties of the Dark Thorn had indeed improved tremendously!
Next.
Ye Yunfei put away the Earthflame, the Three Crows Dark Flame, and the refining cauldron.
Then, he left the Phantom Tower.
Even though quite some time had passed within the Phantom Tower, it was only a short moment in the outside world!
At this moment, within the Shattered Valley.
Everyone was still in a state of shock.
"We must find Ye Yunfei and retrieve the Dark Thorn, otherwise we'll have no way to account for ourselves when we return!"
The several dozen Tianyou Tomb assassins searched frantically for traces of Ye Yunfei, fuming with rage.
The forces of the major powers from the Northern Wastelands still had the area tightly surrounded.
In the distance, the crowd of onlookers was feverishly discussing what had transpired, creating a loud clamor.
Right at that moment.
Behind one of the assassins, a black speck suddenly shot out from space without a sound, aiming for his heart.
This assassin possessed mid-stage Primordial Soul Realm strength.
"No!"
The assassin's expression changed wildly, a strong sense of mortal danger enveloping him — he had detected the black speck behind him.
But it was already too late.
The moment he discovered the black speck, it had already struck his body, precisely at the heart position.
The assassin stiffened, a look of horror and unwillingness appearing on his face before he slowly lost vitality, becoming a corpse.
"The assassination prowess of the Dark Thorn is truly excellent!"
Deep within space, Ye Yunfei was immensely pleased.
"What happened?"
The other assassins noticed something amiss and looked over.
However, they only saw the assassin who was slowly collapsing — they did not see the Dark Thorn.
"It's Ye Yunfei!"
An assassin spoke with a dark expression.
At that very moment.
Shii!
A small black speck appeared behind the head of an assassin at the early-stage Primordial Soul Realm, and with lightning speed, pierced through the assassin's skull.
Another assassin had died.
What followed.
Shii! Shii!…
Hiding deep within space, Ye Yunfei manipulated the Dark Thorn, killing assassin after assassin.
Within moments, sixteen assassins were dead!
After merging with the Void Blade, the Dark Thorn's spatial properties had improved greatly. Now, Ye Yunfei could control the Dark Thorn to attack enemies while he remained deep within space!
This move was too fearsome, too bizarre!
Poor these assassins — they didn't even catch a glimpse of Ye Yunfei's shadow before the Dark Thorn, appearing and vanishing like a ghost, left them disoriented and terrified.
"Go!
Let's get out of here now!"
The remaining assassins turned and fled one after another.
This kind of fight where you couldn't even see your enemy's face couldn't be fought!
"Withdraw!
Everyone, withdraw!"
Seeing the Tianyou Tomb assassins being slain by such bizarre methods, the forces of the major powers from the Northern Wastelands were frightened and immediately began their retreat.
"Too terrifying!
We should leave quickly too.
Once Ye Yunfei gets carried away with killing, we might even suffer his wrath!"
Even the martial artists who had gathered to watch the spectacle were so scared they turned and fled.
For a time, in front of the Shattered Valley, everyone was fleeing in every direction — the scene was extremely spectacular.