The moonlight was like water, pouring down in cool and hazy serenity, peaceful and still.
Within the celestial palace, all had long grown quiet. Upon the bed carved of white jade, An Miaoyi’s star-bright eyes opened. Her jade form lay stretched across it in a luminous expanse — her hair fallen loose and disheveled, her bearing soft and languid.
“You should go,” she said, extending one lotus-root arm — snow-white and delicate — and lazily rousing the one lying beside her.
Ye Fan was outwardly calm, yet inwardly a wave moved through him. Nevertheless, he smiled — his white teeth catching the light, looking brilliantly at ease.
“Why the rush to send me away?”
“If it became known that you had spent the night at the Wondrous Desire Convent, would the Wind Clan accept it? They would surely make trouble for you. The Wind Phoenix is no ordinary woman — how could she tolerate this?”
An Miaoyi’s voice was gentle and still, lovely to hear — yet utterly unruffled. She was beautiful to the point of near-translucence, pure and unworldly as an immortal who had descended into the mortal realm — ice-pure flesh and jade-smooth bones, her jade-white form soft and luminous, suffused with a faint radiance.
“The Wind Clan — they haven’t betrothed themselves to me. If I fail my breakthrough, they’ll discard me like a worn-out sandal,” Ye Fan said with self-deprecating humor.
An Miaoyi helped him gently rub his temples and said: “I believe you will succeed. In time, you will bring back the supreme and unparalleled bearing of a fully realized Holy Body.”
“Affairs of the world are unpredictable. Right now, all eyes are upon me — countless cultivators are waiting, attention from all ten directions converging on me — and yet I may very likely fail.” Ye Fan spoke carelessly, as though describing something entirely unrelated to himself.
“If I end in defeat and humiliation, I wonder what those who are currently winning me over, befriending me, and inviting me to banquets would feel. I imagine all the warmth of human feeling would turn cold and indifferent.” Ye Fan plucked a strand of her dark, glossy hair and wound it around his fingertip.
“You truly have no confidence?” An Miaoyi looked at him quietly. Her beautiful eyes were deep as the starry sky, her face breathtakingly lovely.
“Source alone most likely won’t get me into the Four Extremes Secret Realm.” Ye Fan stated it plainly, then looked back at her and smiled a little: “If I fail — what will you do?”
“Off with you, little man — stop overthinking. It’s time for you to go.” An Miaoyi did not answer. Her alluring jade form shimmered with a soft radiance as she lightly pushed Ye Fan up.
“Somehow I feel it’s been reversed — you’re the carefree one, constantly urging me to leave, utterly unconcerned.” Ye Fan laughed.
“To have had this at all — why cling to whether it lasts forever? If you become a fully realized Holy Body someday, protecting my path forward would be more than enough.”
“You do take it lightly.” Ye Fan’s fingertips wound gently through her hair.
“Don’t think it will be easy for you. By that time, you may well have the entire world as your enemy.” An Miaoyi smiled softly.
“That serious?” Ye Fan was surprised. Then he looked at her quite seriously, fixing his gaze on that supremely beautiful face: “What if I truly fail my breakthrough?”
A remarkable light flashed through An Miaoyi’s eyes: “If that were so, I would fall into the world of mortal dust — until one day I became a Great Emperor, and then I would slay every last person who ever had anything to do with me, washing clean all the glory and disgrace of my lifetime.”
“Surely it doesn’t need to come to that?” Ye Fan stared at her, stunned.
An Miaoyi smiled lightly, caressing his cheek: “And so, little man, for Miaoyi’s sake, you absolutely must succeed in your breakthrough. Surely you couldn’t bear to see me fall into the dust of the mortal world?”
“Then you must have faith in me. If the night of the full moon doesn’t work, there will still be other chances…” Ye Fan said, with a meaningful implication.
An Miaoyi shook her head. Her beautiful eyes were soft and hazy, her alluring red lips vivid and bright. She raised a single jade finger and placed it over his lips, not letting him continue. “Youth passes easily, and a beauty’s bloom fades swiftly. Miaoyi truly cannot afford to wait.”
Then she let her full head of dark hair fall across Ye Fan’s face. She looked down at him and broke into a sweet smile: “Little man, you can only succeed — you cannot fail. Otherwise, Miaoyi will be the first to come after you.”
“If I fail, you’ll come after me?” Ye Fan held her slender, smooth, supple waist and stared at her, dazed.
“Yes — so you mustn’t disappoint Miaoyi.” Her smile was sweet; her jade form shimmered in the moonlight with crystalline radiance, every curve of her figure flawless and without blemish.
“In that case, let me take care of you first.” Ye Fan pulled her into his arms, then rolled over and covered that flawless jade form — white and luminous as ivory.
“Little man… get up… you need to go…” An Miaoyi pushed him away in protest.
Upon the white jade bed, tenderness without end, soft lingering sighs, and boundless intimacy.
At dawn, Ye Fan departed, walking along the ancient streets of the Sacred City. He thought carefully, turning over every possible outcome in his mind, then lifted his gaze toward the distant horizon.
If he failed — would people still come thronging to his door? Would anyone still reach out to him with warmth and enthusiasm? When the splendor of a grand feast has scattered, what remains is surely nothing but endless cold indifference.
Ye Fan did not return to his lodgings but wandered through the Sacred City, strolling until midday, when the Divine King summoned him and he at last made his way back.
“To have the entire world’s eyes upon you — this is a calamity, not a fortune!” The white-robed Divine King opened with this warning the moment they met.
Ye Fan paused, then nodded. He had long since thought through every layer of this — he had always carried a quiet unease about it. Drawing the attention of all under heaven was likely to bring a great catastrophe. Many would not wish to see a fully realized Holy Body enter the world; if the signs were there, snuffing it out in the cradle would be the ideal choice. The day he successfully broke through might well be the day he bled to death.
The peerless Divine King was powerful, yet could not protect him for a lifetime — and likely did not have much time left himself.
“Divine King, do you have any counsel?” Ye Fan asked.
“By now, all under heaven knows you are a Holy Body. You can delay for a time, but not forever. Tonight is the full moon. I will hold the Boundless Universe Sacred Furnace and stand guard over your breakthrough.” The Divine King’s brow furrowed.
Things had come to this pass and could no longer be avoided. Not breaking through today would not change anything tomorrow or any other day.
“To have the entire world as one’s enemy — is this truly the destiny of one who walks the path of a Great Emperor?” The Divine King murmured to himself, then looked toward Ye Fan and said: “Unless you fail this breakthrough — otherwise, this world will know no peace.”
As the red sun sank in the west, a certain oppressiveness settled over the entire Sacred City. Too many powerful experts had come from the Central State and the Eastern Desolation, all waiting quietly for the full moon to rise.
“Red Dragon Daoren has returned!”
Many were startled at heart, and the news spread in an instant. People discovered that among those who had come with him were the Peacock King, whose name shook the heavens, and the Cyan Flood Dragon King, the fourth great outlaw of the Northern Domain.
Three supreme experts entering the city together — they had come bearing seven hundred thousand jin of source for Ye Fan. This sent a shock through everyone present; no one had imagined they would show such regard for him.
At dusk, the Young Lord of the Demon Moon Palace, Yao Yue Kong, sent Ye Fan fifty thousand jin of source. Not long after, the Imperial Prince of Great Summer, Xia Yiming, appeared and likewise brought fifty thousand jin of source.
As the evening glow was fading, many among the younger generation of various great powers had someone bring varying amounts of source — the Dragon Transformation Pool gleamed with divine light, and spiritual energy drifted in the air.
Night fell. The heavens and earth gradually darkened. A sacred moon emerged — not yet at its full brightness — and shed a gentle and soft radiance.
The atmosphere in the Sacred City had grown oppressive to the extreme, so suffocating it nearly stopped one’s breath. At its quietest point, the instant night’s curtain fell, the entire great city went silent all at once.
This expanse of heaven and earth seemed to lose all sound. Not a breath of wind stirred the grass, not a single rustle — it was like a city of the dead, no sense of life to be felt, not a single spoken word to be heard.
A silence like death. Every cultivator waited in anticipation. Around the Dragon Transformation Pool, a dense crowd pressed in from all sides, human figures stretching as far as the eye could see without end.
Above, the sky was thick with shadowy forms; the most advantageous positions had all been claimed by the great figures, and no one dared to contend for them.
Time flowed on. The sacred moon hung high — like a divine plate fixed against the vault of the sky — casting the entire ancient city in a brilliant clarity, as though wisps of pale mist were ceaselessly rising.
“Coming — he’s appeared!” Someone — it was impossible to say who — let out a startled cry, and every head turned in one direction.
Ye Fan came stepping upon the moonlight. On this night, he wore white robes, drifting and ethereal, his pace unhurried, striding through the void.
His dark hair danced lightly in the night breeze. His clear, bright gaze was as pure as a mountain spring. He was like a fallen immortal descending into the world — enveloped in moonlight, his white robes transcendent and otherworldly — and he alighted before the Dragon Transformation Pool.
“So this is the Desolate Holy Body? He’s just a young man — no more than fifteen or sixteen.”
“Setting aside his constitution, to enter the Four Extremes Secret Realm at that age would already mark him as exceptionally gifted.”
“A young man with such a refined appearance, his flesh comparable to a savage dragon? No matter how I look, it doesn’t seem right.”
…
Many were seeing Ye Fan for the first time, and filled with curiosity about the Desolate Holy Body, they spoke in low murmurs.
The oppressive atmosphere of the Sacred City finally eased a little — no longer quite so suffocating — as people at last began to talk. Various sounds arose, breaking the deathly silence.
“Where is the Divine King? Why has he not appeared?”
The peerless Divine King had not shown himself; his supreme bearing was nowhere to be seen. Countless cultivators were uneasy and uncertain, scanning in every direction.
“No need to search. When a Holy Body attempts a breakthrough, it certainly won’t be peaceful. The white-robed Divine King is most likely hidden in the shadows, ready to act at any moment.” Someone offered this interpretation.
Before the Dragon Transformation Pool, Ye Fan stood alone. His white robes billowed — as though he might ascend and become an immortal — and in the moonlight he seemed transcendent and removed from the mundane world.
Within the Dragon Transformation Pool, divine source and extraordinary source blazed and blazed upward. This pool had nearly been transformed into an immortal pool, so thick with spiritual energy that it was almost condensing into liquid.
Had the pool not already been sealed, the divine radiance here would have pierced through the high heavens, dimming both the stars and the moon.
Suddenly, three figures stepped forward, surrounding the Dragon Transformation Pool. The refined Peacock King, the imposing Cyan Flood Dragon King, and the hale and vigorous Red Dragon Daoren stood at the three cardinal points — clearly forming a protective formation for Ye Fan’s breakthrough.
Then the Wind Clan’s members appeared. Four elders positioned themselves at the four cardinal directions around the immortal pool to guard his breakthrough.
Ye Fan raised his head toward the sacred moon. His refined face was tranquil. He then let his gaze sweep over everyone present. He knew these people had come from all corners of the world, every eye fixed on his every move.
He saw the Holy Son Yao Guang, his sacred light veiling his form; he saw the indomitable Golden-Winged Xiaopeng King; he saw the magnificently spirited Xia Jiuyou…
These were destined to be enemies born of his era. Before he had even entered the Four Extremes Secret Realm, he had already glimpsed the future — a vision of many kings rising at once and battles filling the heavens without end.
The nation-toppling Yao Xi, the Ji Family’s Divine King physique, the innate Dao Womb of the Purple Mansion… Holy Sons and Holy Maidens one by one, figure after figure, face after face, all watching in silent attention.
Then Ye Fan’s gaze came to rest on An Miaoyi — peerlessly beautiful, unmatched in her generation. Her dark hair flowed freely, her robes white as snow, her jade skin and celestial form radiant, her gaze like the waters of autumn, as she watched him in stillness and silence.
After sweeping his gaze over everyone, Ye Fan drew it back. With a heavy swish, he shook his sleeve — and a pile of divine source blocks tumbled forth.
In the distance, everyone cried out in shock. The Holy Body had this much source of his own — those from the Central State were stunned!
Only the people of the Sacred City understood: Ye Fan’s source arts were extraordinary, and his harvest had been abundant — especially after the world-shaking wager with the source arts dynasties, from which he had reaped an ocean of source.
Every piece of divine source was cast into the Dragon Transformation Pool. Ye Fan stepped in with a single stride — his breakthrough had begun!
A phoenix cry rang out, shaking the sky!
On the horizon, nine divine birds shaped like phoenixes spread their wings and soared aloft, pulling a sacred imperial carriage. Divine light blazed forth, and auspicious colors scattered in all directions as they swept through the clouds and arrived overhead.
At the same moment, nine golden divine beasts rose into the air, pulling an ancient war chariot that rolled and thundered across the vault of heaven — a rumbling like ten thousand soldiers and horses in full gallop.
…
The various Holy Masters of the Eastern Desolation appeared one after another in their imperial carriages, descending in person to bear witness to the Holy Body’s breakthrough.
“Roar…”
A dragon’s cry resounded between heaven and earth. Another great figure had arrived: nine azure dragons stretched across the sky like a mountain range, arriving in an instant.
In the sky appeared an old man robed in dragon brocade, a dragon crown upon his head. Radiance blazed from him — divine and mighty, as though the Ancestral Dragon himself had descended. The true ancestral dragon’s head shimmered into view above his dragon crown.
“Could this be the Great Emperor of Great Summer come in person?” Many were shaken, uncertain whether this was the world-shaking sovereign of the Central State.
From other directions as well, terrifying surges of energy arrived in succession. The four great immortal dynasties of the Central State each sent supreme experts to bear witness to the event.
And then more and more figures appeared. The hundred schools and myriad sects of the Central State arrived, arraying themselves across the high sky — each and every one of incomparable power, awe-inspiring enough to make one tremble at the sight.
Boom!
At this moment, the seal of the Dragon Transformation Pool was broken open. Divine radiance shattered the clouds, piercing through the vault of heaven. The heavens and earth blazed in scorching brilliance that made it impossible to open one’s eyes.
Within the Dragon Transformation Pool, it was as though the supreme sacred ground of creation’s dawn had been restored — ten thousand streams of divine splendor, a thousand threads of auspicious color, five hues blazing in brilliance, seven shades swirling in radiance, impossibly sacred.
Ye Fan sat cross-legged within the immortal pool, his entire body’s vital essence seething and surging, blood energy erupting skyward — taking the form of a dragon-shaped column of energy that pierced the night sky, like a peerless sword cleaving through heaven and earth.
Everyone was seized with awe. This was the Desolate Holy Body? Still only at the Dao Palace Secret Realm — and yet his fleshly body’s blood energy was already so vigorously abundant, as though a true dragon were awakening!
The Holy Sons and Holy Maidens all changed expression. If a person like this succeeded in breaking through, he would become a terrifyingly formidable enemy!
Enemies on all sides — Ye Fan felt an endless killing intent, surging toward him from every direction.