The diamond vajra gleamed brilliantly — silver light flashing as it charged in from the distant sky, like a lunar ring shooting forward, its divine radiance dazzling, blinding to both eyes, incomparably resplendent.
Ye Fan felt an enormous pressure — as if a vast expanse of sky were collapsing down upon him, his entire body on the verge of rupture, like Mount Tai pressing down upon his very head.
He sidestepped to one side. The diamond vajra carved a blinding streak of white light and brushed past him, shattering an entire range of distant mountain peaks into a ground of dust and rubble.
“This is…” His heart was astonished.
This precious vajra had lost its controller, yet its divine power still shocked the heavens. Even a glancing blow had destroyed so many great peaks — as though it contained a force capable of splitting heaven and earth at the very beginning of creation.
Hum!
The diamond vajra trembled lightly, then shot upward from the dust and rubble of the now-leveled ground. Though no one controlled it, it still moved autonomously toward its enemy — flying toward Ye Fan’s head.
“This precious vajra has given birth to its own divine spirit. At the very least it is a sovereign divine weapon — and of an unfathomable grade.”
Ye Fan summoned the cauldron, breathing in and expelling the power of heaven and earth, and began to collect the diamond vajra. This treasure had extraordinary power — if he could master it, it would greatly elevate his combat strength.
Clang!
The silver vajra cut like a blade without even making contact, slashing out one streak of divine radiance after another, sending the cauldron shaking violently. Had the cauldron not been made of special material, it would surely have been reduced to dust.
Naturally, Ye Fan was not going to use the cauldron to directly clash against a precious vajra of unknown grade. He was merely using the cauldron to slow its flight, not actually making contact.
One streak of silver light after another shot in all directions — like sky-spanning swords crisscrossing back and forth, resonating everywhere, thousands upon thousands of light beams piercing through the void, like a great sieve.
Pff!
In the distance, the young attendant let out one final anguished cry and was reduced to flying ash.
As for Yin Tianzhi — because he had bathed in the blood of the Undying Divine Phoenix, his physique was extraordinarily special. It was comparable to Wang Teng’s physical body and had held on for quite a long time.
But he could not escape death either. More than half of his body had become charred, and the last thread of his connection to the diamond vajra was nearly severed — the ancient treasure was beginning to slow.
Ye Fan was overjoyed. He summoned the cauldron to absorb and exhale divine light, preparing to formally collect it and claim it as his own.
“Ahh—” Yin Tianzhi let out one final great cry. Like a phoenix bathing in fire, a torrent of crimson radiance burst from his entire body, driving the last of his divine will to control the vajra.
Boom!
An aura of extreme and terrible ferocity erupted — like the descent of all the hells of the underworld at once — making one feel as though ten thousand steel needles were piercing the body simultaneously. Acute pain and bone-deep cold washed over everything. Every hair on one’s body stood on end.
The diamond vajra plunged downward, expanding to the size of a millstone. It split open the heavens and cracked the earth — whatever it struck, it destroyed. Even Ye Fan in his Holy Physique did not wish to take that blow directly.
Boom!
Within this mountain range — spanning an immeasurable circumference — the countless peaks, one after another, collapsed like sand castles swept away by a wave in the very instant the tide arrived, destroyed without exception.
Dozens, hundreds… without end they fell, each and every mountain peak shattering inch by inch into sand and dust.
“How terrifying!” Ye Fan was horrified. This ancient vajra had overwhelming power — if a supreme sovereign were to wield it, who could resist?
He used the cauldron to shield himself, and for the first time unleashed the power of Tai Yin — the gentle, yielding holy power of the Tai Chi’s yin aspect — like water wearing through stone, using softness to overcome hardness.
The Word-Soldier technique was deployed simultaneously, circulating with perfect fluidity and connecting with the Dao, rapidly interfering with the vajra, seeking to seize it in one swift motion and prevent it from unleashing its terrible divine might.
“Open!” Yin Tianzhi screamed. He was beyond all hope of survival — his very soul had been set alight by the nine-colored misty threads. He sought to drag Ye Fan down to death with him.
The millstone-sized diamond vajra — the space within its ring became a black hole, devouring everything. The shattered rocks and rubble and soil from dozens and hundreds of collapsed mountains came surging like a great river, torrential and overwhelming, and were all swallowed into it in the first instant.
Ye Fan lost his footing and was nearly dissolved away himself. The sight was supremely terrifying — this precious vajra devoured all things, like a black hole of the universe.
Once before, he had seized a diamond vajra interwoven with laws from one of Yao Guang’s disciples — that one had clearly been an imitation, and had once demonstrated similar power. But compared to this, it was a junior practitioner facing a grandmaster. The gap was immense.
Ye Fan retreated, deploying various extraordinary techniques, even bringing out the black gourd, preparing to strike the diamond vajra down and stop it from continuing to evolve into a black hole — otherwise there would be no way to stop it, and he truly might be swallowed inside.
Yet at this very moment, Yin Tianzhi let out one final great cry and was at last reduced to tribulation ash. His soul had been completely burned away. He died miserably on the spot.
The diamond vajra’s divine power immediately diminished and dimmed considerably — no longer so fearsome and terrifying. Ye Fan struck decisively, deploying the Word-Soldier technique, driving the Mother Qi of All Things cauldron — and with a great resounding clang, the vajra was collected within.
Inside the cauldron, a snow-white and crystalline precious vajra spun round and round, like a great eternal star, radiating an aura that overawed the heart and soul.
“This is a divine object of the highest order!”
Ye Fan’s heart beat violently. Its material was exceedingly rare — Nine Heavens White Jade Jade-Bi. Legend held that it was formed by severing a segment of the heavens’ own essence and allowing a divine jade to be born from it. It was the hardest and most durable substance in existence — eternal and indestructible.
“Though it is a sovereign divine weapon, it can absolutely evolve into a world-transcending sacred artifact. The material alone is priceless, something the entire world would covet!”
Ye Fan made a precise judgment. This was a peerless sovereign divine weapon — extraordinarily powerful — yet in the end it was not the diamond vajra of Laozi himself; it was an imitation.
Yet to have refined an imitation to such a terrifying degree was also extraordinary. The lineage of Laozi must have produced a peerless sovereign at some point — one of world-shaking strength.
“My elder brother will avenge me. You cannot escape death no matter where you go — not to the heavens above nor the earth below. Even if you flee deep into the ancient star domain, he will come and cut you down.” These were the last vestige of will that Yin Tianzhi sent out before dying — filled with bitter unwillingness and venomous hatred.
The Tai Qing Sacred Realm closed. The Eight Sceneries Palace within was veiled in purple qi, all haze and obscurity — utterly impossible to see through. It seemed as though an ancient sovereign sat within.
Ye Fan stood there in a daze for a moment. A man called Yin Tiande had entered and claimed the Eight Sceneries Palace, received Laozi’s inheritance, and become extraordinarily powerful.
Yin Tianzhi had received only a portion of his elder brother’s inheritance, and was already on par with the head of a major religious sect — having bathed his physical shell in the blood of a Divine Phoenix. How unfathomably terrifying would his elder brother be?
Ye Fan’s heart sank. This would inevitably be an unimaginable enemy — one of extreme terror and power, possibly surpassing all who had come before.
The Tai Qing Sacred Realm was sealed shut and could not be opened. There was no way to force entry. Even the nine-colored flame threads of the gourd were useless.
“He seeks the Mother Qi of All Things to consecrate a Mysterious Yellow Pagoda of Heaven and Earth — his ambitions are truly immense.” Ye Fan departed. He did not wish to linger here. He needed to understand this world, and to make himself stronger.
The diamond vajra now in hand was warm, crystalline, and wondrously beautiful — a supreme divine object. Had Yin Tianzhi not died, it would have been nearly impossible to deal with.
The more Ye Fan examined it, the more he felt the terror within it. Among sovereign divine weapons, this was the finest of the fine — truly a king among kings. In the future, it could certainly evolve into a supreme sacred object without peer.
The Purple Tenuity Ancient Star Region was an incomparably vast world, stretching on for an unknowable number of tens of thousands of li. After departing the Xuandu Cave and the Eight Sceneries Palace and flying for a full month, Ye Fan was still amid beautiful mountains and rivers, with no sign of human habitation.
At last, atop a great barren mountain where not a blade of grass grew, he discovered an ancient sacrificial platform. Examining it carefully, he found it was an ancient teleportation formation from an earlier age.
“Where does it lead?” Ye Fan had truly had enough. He desperately wanted to enter a region with human habitation, find someone to speak with, and learn everything about this ancient star. Without any hesitation, he stepped onto the ancient platform.
He had dared to cross even the Desolate cosmos, traveling alone through the soundless darkness of the starry void for seven years. Now, on an ancient star, he naturally had nothing to fear. Even if the ancient formation teleported him to the ends of the earth — so what? He would certainly remain within this ancient domain.
The ancient and weathered formation platform had to be at least ten thousand years old. Source stones were inserted into it and it flickered with light — instantly blazing brilliantly, forming a passageway that pierced toward the distance.
Ye Fan flashed and disappeared, swiftly vanishing. He entered a silent void where nothing could be seen.
After a full quarter of an hour, he finally passed through and emerged on the other side. Light appeared before his eyes, causing his heart to shake. The journey had taken so long that he had certainly crossed more than eight million li — it was an ancient formation of extraordinary range.
“This world is truly enormous. A random abandoned ancient formation platform, and its range is readily eight million li. What a vast world this truly is.”
He suspected it might be even broader and boundless than the Northern Dipper Star Region — which was genuinely terrifying. It was difficult to imagine what kind of star this was.
In this world where even demons existed, he had long since stopped measuring things by the laws of physics from his homeland. He privately speculated that perhaps there were laws of world-creation at work upon this ancient star — domain within domain, with territories without end.
At last, after flying another several tens of thousands of li, he left behind the great wilderness and on the horizon ahead he saw a great city.
It was a black ancient city — superb in scale, built entirely of ink-colored crystalline stone. Dark light flickered across it, like a grand heavenly city descending upon the mortal world.
“How magnificent!” Even Ye Fan could not help but marvel. The city walls stood a full hundred meters high and were covered in dense formation patterns — a single glance made clear this was a place of great importance.
“Did you all hear — something has happened at the Eight Sceneries Palace. The younger brother of Yin Tiande has been killed.”
“What? Who would dare do such a thing? Who would dare provoke even the master of the Eight Sceneries Palace?!”
“Yin Tiande utterly defeated the heads of every major sect ten years ago. How powerful might he have become by now? The fact that he dared to bathe his own younger brother in the blood of the Undying Divine Phoenix — one can imagine how immeasurably deep his strength must be!”
“The deceased Yin Tianzhi was also a supremely powerful expert — one that all the major sect heads regarded with great wariness. His strength was truly fearsome. Who on earth killed him?”
Within this black ancient city that resembled a divine city, various cultivators were engaged in discussion. A demon of the avian race had witnessed the battle and the news had leaked out.
“Let us not speak of this for now. We should hurry and go see that ancient sage — it is truly unthinkable that such an ancient sage has appeared here in our Tianyuan City.”
“That individual is a strange one — utterly ignoring everyone who comes to pay their respects, as though seeking something. He has been lingering here for several days already.”
…
When Ye Fan heard all of this, his heart shook violently. This world was truly too terrifying. He had only just entered a city, and he was already hearing of an ancient sage.
He followed along with the crowd as well. Many cultivators were heading outside the city, into a stretch of barren red earth, as if lava had swept through it.
Stone mountains stood towering here, strange rocks jutting out in all directions, with not a single blade of grass or tree. In the distance, some powerful cultivators moved about, yet none dared to approach.
Suddenly, Ye Fan stopped dead, nearly unable to believe his own eyes. He saw a tall figure — hair disheveled and loose — standing among the stone mountains.
This was a powerfully built man, standing two or three heads above ordinary people, of magnificent and imposing stature, like an ancient deity. His skin was the color of ancient bronze, and wild black hair obscured his true face.
Ye Fan could not see his features, yet this towering frame was deeply familiar to him — for they had once climbed Sacred Cliff together, and together opened the ancient coffin of the Great Sacred Physique. It was the Old Madman!
“How is this possible? How did he come to be here?!” Ye Fan pinched himself forcefully, making sure he wasn’t in some delirious daze.
“It truly is him!” His heart was filled with shock. After seven years of solitary travel through the Desolate cosmos, who would have imagined he could encounter a familiar face here in the Purple Tenuity Ancient Star Region? This was simply beyond all belief!