After Ye Fan broke through and advanced into the Four Extremes Secret Realm, an innate Dao diagram came pressing down upon him — vast and solemn, arcane and intricate, utterly irresistible, seeking to drive him back to where he had started.

This had already surpassed the realm of heavenly tribulation. It was not thunder, not lightning, but innate patterned lines woven from heaven and earth itself, representing the will of the Great Dao.

Heaven and earth did not accept the Holy Body.

This was a despairing conclusion. How could a person existing between heaven and earth resist such a thing? One could not transcend this great world, and as long as one lived within it, it was nearly impossible to change anything.

Ye Fan refused to submit. He wielded his cauldron to strike at the heavens, his white robes stained with sacred blood, his body resisting the innate patterns with sheer physical might, even his black hair seemingly on the verge of igniting. His entire body blazed with golden flames as he struggled with all his strength.

The Peerless Divine King likewise refused to bend. White hair like snow, brows arched with fierce determination, his bearing awe-inspiring. He offered up the Divine Furnace of Departing Flame to seal the sky, blocking the descent of the Dao diagram, determined to defy heaven itself on behalf of the Holy Body and reconnect its severed path.

To shatter this innate Dao diagram, to grind away this expanse of innate patterned lines — how could that possibly be easy? This was the tangible embodiment of the Dao itself. Now that it had come into conflict with the Holy Body, the two simply could not coexist.

“Heaven and earth cannot be defied. The Great Dao cannot be violated. The Holy Body’s path ahead has been severed — no one can reconnect it.”

“The ancient sages concluded this long ago. Who can defy the will of heaven and earth? None of this can be changed.”

The supreme figures of the Central Continent’s immortal dynasties and the paramount sect masters of the various philosophical schools spoke up one after another. The ancient texts had long recorded all of this — heaven and earth had changed, and the Holy Body could no longer be cultivated.

“Why is this happening? The breakthrough has already succeeded, and yet heaven and earth still will not recognize it — how can this be?”

“The Heavenly Dao cannot be defied. Even if one ascends against Heaven for a time, they will be cast back down.”

“What a pity. After more than a hundred thousand years, someone has finally broken the curse — only for a trial like this to arise at the very last moment. There is no path forward.”

Everyone was discussing it. Countless cultivators were bewildered. Expressions varied from person to person — some sneered coldly, some gloated with schadenfreude, some sighed, and some felt it was a genuine tragedy.

All the great powers let out a long collective breath. If a fully mature Holy Body were to appear in the future, the pressure it would exert on them would be tremendous. Now, at last, they could set their minds at ease. Many faces revealed deep and meaningful expressions.

“This one is a bit different from the Holy Bodies of the past. In former times, there were sacred grounds that cultivated a Holy Body to the Fifth Heaven of the Dao Palace, and it was there they encountered the calamity and were blocked by the innate patterned lines.”

“What a shame. In the end, the curse still cannot be broken — it is all for nothing in the end.”

At this moment, Ye Fan had no way to retreat. There was only the struggle.

He clasped the Bodhi Seed in his hand, his hair flying wildly, and struck heaven with his fist. His golden fists wove out strand after strand of patterned lines, tracing the trajectory of the Dao, contending against the diagram high above.

“Hmm!”

The crowd could clearly see the void trembling like a torn cloth. Beneath the world-shaking physical might of the Holy Body, it seemed on the verge of being ripped apart.

Yet the vast Dao diagram remained unaffected, pressing downward with calm relentlessness, collapsing the void beneath it and cracking the earth around Ye Fan.

This was an invisible, majestic force — like a galaxy falling from on high, permeating everywhere, piercing everything, crushing all resistance, grinding away every tangible substance in its path.

Even a physical body as powerful as Ye Fan’s groaned and creaked under the pressure, a trickle of faint golden blood seeping from his every pore, until half his body was dyed red.

“Clang!”

The cauldron forged from the primordial breath of all things — ancient and grand — expanded to dozens of zhang in height, like a towering mountain, reverberating deep within the hearts of all who beheld it. It struck toward the high heavens, imprinting itself upon the void.

The Dao diagram woven from the great expanse of heaven and earth slowly rotated, as though dragging the entire vault of the sky down with it as it descended. It collided with the great cauldron, sustaining not the slightest damage, utterly unstoppable.

“Dong!”

The breath of all things fell. Had it been anything less than a sacred object existing alongside heaven and earth, it would have been reduced to dust long since. Only such an artifact could endure and remain, never to be ground away.

“Hmm!”

The Divine Furnace of Departing Flame shuddered. From within it surged a web of patterned lines, equally imbued with the aura of the Great Dao, ascending against Heaven, shooting into the high sky to meet and challenge that Dao diagram.

“That is… a Great Emperor formation pattern!”

“The innate patterned lines imprinted by an ancient Great Emperor!”

Cultivators all around cried out in shock, struck with awe.

The divine furnace was fixed in the void, immovable as a mountain, only those patterned lines shooting upward, swiftly colliding with the Dao diagram.

“Pop!”

A faint sound rang out. The innate Dao diagram trembled. The Great Emperor formation pattern shook. From the void came a heart-shaking aura — this entire world felt as if it had reached its final days.

“Heavens, it held — those patterned lines have stopped the innate Dao diagram!”

“An ancient Great Emperor is truly unfathomable — the Dao lines they left behind are this heaven-defying!”

The crowd cried out, every one of them astounded. High in the sky, two sets of patterned lines revolved, colliding again and again, neither one damaged.

Yet before anyone could finish speaking, the situation shifted again in an instant. The Great Emperor formation pattern grew hazy, gradually fading away, unable to hold back the Dao diagram.

“This… not even the Great Emperor’s Dao patterns can stop it?” Everyone was aghast. If that was the case, then there was truly no force left in this world capable of changing any of this.

“That is wrong. An ancient Great Emperor could absolutely defy Heaven — if one were resurrected, the Holy Body’s curse would certainly be broken and the path laid open.”

“That is indeed so. The Great Emperor formation pattern just now was only a fragment — it was not complete. The ancient sages estimated that without becoming a Great Emperor oneself, one can comprehend at most one-tenth of the Emperor patterns.”

“I refuse to accept this!” Ye Fan roared aloud. His entire body surged with life essence, bathed in divine light, gazing up at the heavens. The cauldron of the primordial breath of all things hung above his head, and from it descended threads of dark yellow breath, strand by strand, enveloping and protecting him.

“Hmm!”

The void shuddered. For the first time, he unleashed his phenomena. A vast haze surrounded him, isolating him from the greater world. He stood like a demon sovereign of creation — upright and unyielding.

In this small heaven and earth that he alone commanded, he was a divine being — opening the heavens, cleaving the earth, looking down upon all living things, bound by nothing.

“Hiss!”

A phenomenon shot toward the heavens — a blue lotus, bearing three leaves, expounding the meaning of the Dao. Three gives birth to all things, immersed in primordial chaos, striking toward the high sky.

“He truly succeeded — he possesses one of the most terrifying ancient phenomena, the Chaos Seed Blue Lotus!” Everyone’s heart clenched.

“Pop!”

The blue lotus, wreathed in primordial mist, surged into the innate Dao diagram, shaking it unceasingly — but in the end, it could not hold it back.

“A pity — the Holy Body has not yet fully grown. The phenomenon has only just taken initial form…”

“If it were a fully mature Holy Body, a single tremor of the blue lotus would shatter the vault of heaven — even an innate Dao diagram would be smashed to pieces.”

Many people lamented. The ancient texts contained records, though only scattered fragments, yet enough to convey the supreme might it embodied.

Ye Fan stood unyielding within his small heaven and earth, enduring the innate Dao diagram!

The void shook once more. A landscape of mountains and rivers materialized, striking toward the high heavens, plunging into the intricately complex Dao diagram.

“An ancient phenomenon — the Magnificent Rivers and Mountains!”

“Yet another phenomenon capable of standing supreme over all under heaven — how did he cultivate two of them at once?”

Many were astonished; even more fell into silence. The Holy Body was truly heaven-defying, leaving countless cultivators with feelings they could not quite put into words.

“Ahh…!” Ye Fan cried out, his black hair swirling wildly, refusing to bow his head, fighting back with everything he had.

“Hmm!”

The void shuddered. A Yin-Yang Life and Death diagram flew skyward — Yin embracing Yang, Yang embracing Yin, life and death standing side by side.

“Yet another terrifying ancient phenomenon!” Everyone was completely stunned. There had been speculation earlier, but no one had expected it to come true — the Holy Body’s phenomena were not singular.

Ye Fan struck with all his might, yet his body was already bleeding. The pressure of the Dao diagram was near to shattering him — his very bones seemed on the verge of breaking.

And if even he could endure this, any cultivator of another constitution would have been reduced to pulp and ash long ago, unable to exist in this world for even a moment.

Ye Fan spat a mouthful of blood tinted with faint gold. It stained the front of his robes crimson. His entire body was battered and broken. His black hair stood on end, his eyes still defiant as he glared upward at the heavens with fury.

“Boom!”

A figure manifested — another version of himself, seated high in the ninth heaven, dark yellow breath swirling around him, looking down upon all creation like an Immortal King descended unto the world.

This phenomenon surged upward, striking toward the Dao diagram with the force of ten thousand weights. That towering figure continuously formed seals — profoundly arcane and inscrutable — imprinting themselves upon the innate Dao diagram.

“This is the Immortal King Presiding Over the Ninth Heaven!”

“So it is true after all — various terrifying ancient phenomena have merged into one, and these are only a part of it. His phenomenon has not yet fully evolved and taken its final form.”

The crowd was shaken. Though many had anticipated it, they still could not suppress their astonishment.

“Spit!”

Ye Fan coughed blood. His body was nearly broken apart. He could endure no longer. Nothing could halt the innate Dao diagram — he was on the verge of being crushed.

He despaired. He was filled with unwillingness, and yet there was nothing he could do. He had successfully ascended to the Four Extremes Secret Realm, only to tumble off the edge of a ten-thousand-zhang precipice at the very last moment.

He finally understood why no Holy Body had reached full maturity in over a hundred thousand years. The curse was not located within the body — it was that heaven and earth refused to acknowledge it. How could anyone fight against that?

As long as one lived in this world, there was no possible way to change the outcome. He was filled with despair. This feeling of utter powerlessness, of being unable to alter fate, weighed upon his heart with crushing heaviness.

“Although this world has changed, it is not an absolute dead end for the Holy Body. Human will can defy Heaven and reconnect the severed path — step past it, and the sky will open wide!” The Peerless Divine King roared.

At the same moment, the world shuddered. A terrifying pressure washed over every single person, making them tremble, making them want to prostrate themselves in reverence.

Like a million volcanoes erupting together, like tens of millions of demonic mountains descending, like the boundless starry sky collapsing — this world seemed on the verge of fracturing.

The Eternal Universe Furnace awakened!

After a period of preparation, the Peerless Divine King fixed the sacred furnace forged from Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold in the void. Phoenix blood blazed toward the heavens, scarlet light spreading like rosy clouds, engulfing the entire vast and magnificent Divine City.

More than half the cultivators present crumpled to the ground, utterly unable to withstand this supreme divine power — it felt as though they were sensing a few wisps of aura from an ancient Great Emperor.

High in the night sky, the innate Dao diagram was held in place, unable to descend, unable to approach Ye Fan.

Those still able to stand all drew in sharp, cold breaths. The might of an ancient Great Emperor truly defied imagination — absolutely capable of defying Heaven. The sacred weapon they had left behind was merely reawakening, and already it had stopped all of this. If it were actually unleashed — what then?

Yet the Divine King in White showed no joy. Instead, his expression grew heavy. The innate patterned lines had not disappeared, which meant heaven and earth still did not accept the situation. He could not sustain the Eternal Universe Sacred Furnace’s reawakening indefinitely — no one in this world could do so except a Great Emperor.

Many cultivators could see it: the Holy Body’s severed path was difficult to reconnect. The sacred furnace might protect for a time, but not for eternity. Ye Fan’s heaven and earth, his path forward, had been blocked.

Elsewhere, the heavenly tribulation bearing down on the small golden creature had been infinitely weakened. It had been struck until it was covered in wounds and never stopped wiping its tears and wailing loudly. But now it was able to easily resist its tribulation.

The people of the Great Xia Dynasty were in a state of extreme anxiety. They sent a voice transmission to Shencan, urging it in the strongest possible terms not to approach the sacred furnace. If it were dragged into the situation too, then once the furnace dissipated, there might be an even more terrifying heavenly tribulation to follow.

“Cough…” The Peerless Divine King openly coughed up a mouthful of blood before everyone present. The spray of blood staining his white robes was a deeply jarring, alarming sight.

Everyone’s heart gave a lurch — particularly the various sacred ground masters of the Eastern Desolation, whose eyes flickered with a strange light as they gave rise to thoughts of a different nature. The rumors were clearly true: the Peerless Divine King was most likely not long for this world.

“Senior, please withdraw the sacred furnace…” Ye Fan spoke up. He had grown calm, and was ready to face the Dao diagram in the sky — fearless of life or death.

The Divine King’s white robes billowed in the wind. Though he could look down upon the Eastern Desolation, what could that mean when set against Heaven itself? He was filled with an exhaustion as deep as watching the Colorful Cloud Immortal perish before his eyes — utterly powerless to change anything.

“Hmm!”

The void shuddered. The Eternal Universe Sacred Furnace vanished from sight.

“Boom!”

The innate Dao diagram came crashing down. Ye Fan’s bones shattered, his physical body was pierced clean through, his divine sense fractured. He was nearly torn into four or five pieces — and yet he stood there, refusing to fall.

Everyone understood: the Holy Body was most likely going to perish, and there was no one left who could save him.

Many among the younger generation let out a long breath, their expressions varied — some showing unconcealed joy, some gloating openly over the misfortune…

The various Holy Sons and Holy Maidens faced each other in silence, their expressions complicated. Clearly, their hearts were not particularly calm.

Even the various sacred ground masters and the supreme sect masters from the Central Continent were visibly moved, and many of the great powers felt a weight lifting from their shoulders.

“Ye Fan…!” Pang Bo cried out involuntarily.

“Hold on!” Tu Fei and Li Heishui shouted.

An Miaoyi, whose beauty was unrivaled under all of heaven, felt the brilliance in her eyes dim. This outcome… she could not accept it. Even she felt a creeping despair.

“Is this truly a dead end…?” Ye Fan spoke quietly, gazing at the innate Dao diagram pressing in around him.

“Swish!”

A ray of light flashed. The Divine King’s Pure Land opened wide. The Divine King brought Ye Fan into the Pure Land, where the spirit springs chimed softly, fragrant flowers and grasses abounded, untouched by the world’s strife — a place of complete tranquility.

Yet even there, the innate patterned lines could not be stopped. They followed him in, enveloping Ye Fan once more, pressing toward his flesh and blood and his divine sense, seeking to brand themselves into him.

Ye Fan cried out. Every single pore was seeping blood. He was moments away from having his body reduced to powder and ash.

“It is not killing your body — it seeks to destroy your Dao foundation. There is still a chance.” The Divine King roared.

Within the Pure Land, the lone divine tree swayed gently. The Divine King in White sat in meditation beneath it — dignified and sacred, serene and transcendent, like a divine being.

“What are you doing, Ancestral Patriarch Divine King?!” The people of the Jiang Family cried out in anxious alarm.

Within the Pure Land, flower petals drifted down in a canopy of falling blossoms, each one crystalline, filling the air with fragrance. The Peerless Divine King sat in white, untouched by even a speck of dust, his spirit and bearing jade-like and resplendent — nearly indistinguishable from a true divine being.

“Pop!”

A faint sound rang out. A blood blossom bloomed at the Peerless Divine King’s chest — vivid and poignant — and transformed into a stream of divine radiance that surged into Ye Fan’s body.

“Senior, please stop!” Ye Fan cried out, wanting desperately to stop him.

But his body had already been locked in place. The innate Dao diagram had adhered to him, and he was nearly shattered — he could not move so much as an inch.

“Pop!”

Another faint sound. Another blood blossom flew out from the Divine King’s chest, yet his expression was one of serene peace, like a divine being smiling over a flower, sitting in meditation beneath the Divine King Tree, surrounded by crystalline blood-stained petals.

“That is… divine blood!”

“The blood of a divine being can cleanse all sin, purify the Great Dao, and sever karmic ties!”

“The Peerless Divine King intends to use his own blood to wash clean the innate Dao diagram, to sever the innate patterned lines — to defy Heaven through his own singular effort and reconnect the Holy Body’s severed path!”

“Yet even a Peerless Divine King does not have much divine blood — what little he possesses is only a trace!”

“The Divine King is going to enter parinirvana…”

Everyone was stunned. The people of the Jiang Family cried out in anguish, desperately wanting to stop all of this, yet none of them could break into the Pure Land.

“Divine King, your great kindness is higher than the heavens — but I do not need you to do this. I would rather die right now!” Ye Fan shouted, utterly resolute, unable to bear the thought of the Divine King dying because of him.

A canopy of flower petals drifted down, shimmering with crystalline light. Beneath the Divine King Tree, that white-robed, jade-spirited figure grew more and more peaceful and still, not moving a single inch.

“Pop!”

Yet another blood blossom bloomed, staining the snow-white robes, flying toward where Ye Fan was. The Divine King, surrounded by crystalline petals, closed his eyes without moving — holding a flower in meditation.