The frozen universe was silent and boundless, dark without end. Along the desolate ancient path beneath the stars, starlight flickered only occasionally before fading in an instant. This was Ye Fan’s journey.
He had left the Northern Dipper Star Domain far behind, traveling through eternal silence. Alone, he set out on this road, with no idea what lay ahead.
At the final moment, it had come to that — both Pang Bo and Li Xiaoman had become strangers, as though he had never known them at all. Sometimes, perhaps, knowing nothing is better.
Li Xiaoman’s resolute leap, his reflection caught in her eyes as she plummeted into the primordial abyss — this kept surfacing before him. And why had Pang Bo gone so far away?
Ye Fan quietly took out the cauldron and shielded himself with it. On this ancient and eerie path, no one could know what might happen.
Starlight swayed, filtering through through spatial nodes. The desolate universe held too many secrets. What purpose had the predecessors had in opening such a path? Where did it begin and where did it end? No one now could say.
“Farewell, Northern Dipper!”
With one final long sigh, Ye Fan began his long and solitary journey. Whether he could return to Earth this time, he did not know. Should another accident occur, he feared he would be lost forever in the dark depths of the universe.
Humanity was truly too small. An individual, compared to an ancient star, was no more than a speck of dust — and an ancient star, in the boundless universe, could not even compare to a mote of dust.
The star domain was vast beyond measure, the distances truly immeasurable. Even the smallest star system had to be measured in tens of billions of kilometers, to say nothing of the immense star domains or the far shore that existed only in his heart.
In the boundless darkness and frigid cold of the universe, humanity was utterly insignificant. Flying on one’s own power alone, an entire lifetime would not be enough to leave a small star system — let alone cross one enormous star domain after another, each stretching to infinity.
Perhaps, throughout all of history, only the Great Emperors of antiquity could travel the universe alone. Aside from them, who else possessed such vast and magnificent power?
Even the sages of remote antiquity mostly had to rely on the Five-Colored Altar and the ancient path beneath the stars. Otherwise, how could they have crossed so many ancient star domains? The distances were simply too great.
Setting out alone, Ye Fan felt a sense of unreality. Everything he had experienced seemed like a dream. Now, at last, he was going home, treading the path of return.
All that had happened in the Northern Dipper Star Domain — especially what had occurred in those final moments before departure — he did not want to recall. He wanted to forget it forever. Yet how could he forget?
No matter what strangeness was upon Pang Bo, I never sensed any malice from him toward me. We lived and died together, hearts open to one another.
Li Xiaoman… why was her fate so wretched? Why did it end this way?
A pain shot through Ye Fan’s heart. The ache was deep, yet it had all already happened, all left behind in the Northern Dipper, becoming the past, becoming memory. His heart held only emptiness and sorrow.
“Crocodile Ancestor!”
At last, Ye Fan cried out uncontrollably — he wished he could eat that creature’s flesh and drink its blood. So many things were connected to that ancient Demon Sage.
All these years had passed. What storms had the Ancient Crocodile stirred since escaping from beneath the Great Thunder Sound Temple? Where was it now?
Boom!
On the ancient path beneath the stars, a spatial node trembled, as though some ancient star had been destroyed, sending a brilliant wave of light rippling to this place.
Ye Fan’s thoughts were pulled back. He fixed his gaze on that briefly flaring and then extinguished spatial node, and glimpsed a streak of brilliant light like a firework blooming.
It was a meteor, striking a great dark-blue star. Both were destroyed together — what a colossal disturbance that was!
Had it struck the Northern Dipper, countless living beings would have perished. Perhaps only the sages of antiquity could have survived.
In the heavens, humanity truly is insignificant.
Among the countless star domains, in the boundless universe, how many life-bearing source stars existed? No one could say for certain. Even the Feather-Transformation Divine Dynasty, at the height of its power and glory, had only ever discovered four.
This was destined to be a dull journey — accompanied only by solitude, moving forward through the dark, and with time, the cold would weigh upon a person deeply.
At least this time it was not like the last — drifting aimlessly without purpose. Now, on the ancient path beneath the stars, each moment covered hundreds of millions of li, crossing the heavens and pressing forward.
Suddenly, the ancient path beneath the stars shook violently. Ye Fan struggled to keep his footing. Even the cauldron hovering above his head rang and trembled.
Trouble.
Ye Fan recalled the Black Emperor’s warning: if the Five-Colored Altar on the destination end were damaged, the consequences would be dire. He would be unable to appear at the originally intended coordinate star and would instead descend upon the nearest ancient star with an undamaged Five-Colored Altar. That was likely what was happening now — the spacetime channel was twisting, and it might collapse altogether.
The ancient cauldron expanded and released streams of primordial energy, enveloping Ye Fan beneath it, protecting him from harm.
The spacetime channel flickered and became unstable. Space contracted sharply, and a severe upheaval broke out. The ancient path beneath the stars seemed as though it might snap, or perhaps explode outward.
This was a terrible omen. At any moment, it could bring utter catastrophe. Crossing the heavens was dangerous even for sages, to say nothing of others.
Ye Fan’s only reliance was his steadfast belief that the Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron was strong enough — that even if the ancient path beneath the stars shattered, it would protect him and leave him unharmed.
Boom!
Amid violent rumbling, eighteen spatial nodes shattered in succession. Ye Fan passed through a harrowing ordeal, and the ancient path beneath the stars finally stabilized.
Will I be unable to return to Earth? A deeply uneasy feeling rose within Ye Fan.
It was clear he had deviated from the original course. The ancient path had reversed. It was impossible for him to land on Earth now. A shadow of gloom rose in his heart.
He had finally drawn close to Earth, yet the Five-Colored Altar there was gone. He could not descend. He couldn’t help but clench his fists.
Everything calmed again, but almost at once a faint glow appeared ahead. Ye Fan knew he was approaching his destination. The ancient path beneath the stars had reached its end.
Boom!
A violent impact rang out. The primordial energy of the cauldron touched the ground, and the world spun. Ye Fan descended, tumbling onto a smooth Five-Colored Altar.
The instant he landed, Ye Fan heard the sounds of men shouting and beasts roaring. The battle cries shook the heavens. Looking out, he saw a great battlefield in the distance — armored troops and iron horses, flashing blades and glinting swords, murderous intent surging toward the sky.
“Where is this place?” His astonishment was immense. Towering ancient trees surrounded him, teeming with life, all manner of fierce birds and savage beasts moving among them. It was as though he had arrived on a primordial wilderness.
The Five-Colored Altar stood upon a great mountain, majestic and vast. On the battlefield, great banners billowed in the wind, and powerful warriors were everywhere. One by one, they moved mountains and filled seas, each possessing earth-shaking divine abilities.
Their mounts galloped through the void, their battle so fierce it blotted out the sun and moon. Magical treasures filled the sky, and many among them were kings who had severed the Dao — very possibly even ancient sages held command there.
“This is…” Ye Fan stared at it all in disbelief.
Roaaaar…
Nine enormous azure dragons soared through the sky, pulling an ancient war chariot into the battlefield. The ancient and sacred might surged forth like a great river in full flood.
“That is… a great human sage, perhaps even a quasi-emperor!” Ye Fan half-wondered if he was dreaming. All of this was too extraordinary.
Upon this divine mountain, ancient trees reached to the sky. In the distance, grand palaces stood in splendor, the battlefield stretched vast and wide, and even the legendary supreme great sages were said to have taken part in the war — how staggering was that?
Abruptly, a great boulder not far from the Five-Colored Altar stopped him in his tracks. Two ancient characters were carved upon it in bronze-vessel script: Huoying.
“What — this is the Ancient Star Huoying? What era have I arrived in?” Ye Fan was struck cold with dread. Huoying was the name for what later generations would call Mars — a dead star, barren and lifeless.
Yet what was he looking at now? Bursting with vitality, ancient trees towering to the heavens, savage beasts without number, the entire land blanketed in lush green.
“That can’t be right!”
Ye Fan bit his tongue, forcing himself to calm down. His thoughts throughout the journey had been turbulent, constantly revisiting the parting scenes he had left behind — he could not even focus his mind. Now he rapidly activated his Origin Heavenly Eye to pierce through the illusion.
The deafening battle cries vanished. The overwhelming murderous energy disappeared. The vibrant land transformed into bare red earth. Even the divine mountain beneath his feet had leveled to be flush with the ground.
A faint, icy sensation seeped through his feet from the Five-Colored Altar and entered his body. It was this ancient altar that had projected the events of a long-bygone age into the sea of his mind.
“This place is… the Ancient Star Huoying!”
Ye Fan rushed out of the Five-Colored Altar and ran quickly to a great boulder nearby. He circled to the other side and found the same bronze-vessel script carved there: Huoying.
That was it — this ancient star. During the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin event all those years ago, the procession had once descended here. He had seen this very boulder over twenty years ago. This was where the Great Thunder Sound Temple stood, and where the… Divine Crocodile was.
Ye Fan had long since anticipated this: if he could not land on Earth, he would most likely end up on the Ancient Star Huoying — for it had an intact Five-Colored Altar.
Was what I just saw real? Long ago, this place was full of life, home to many powerful beings. In what age was it all destroyed?
Ye Fan was uncertain and unsettled. He turned to look at the Five-Colored Altar. In the depths of uncounted ages, it had stood upon a magnificent divine mountain. Now everything had changed. This place had become a dead star.
He thought of the reports he had seen before leaving Earth — accounts of ancient riverbeds on Mars, evidence suggesting there had once been small rivers, perhaps even great lakes and oceans.
“So it was all true…” he murmured to himself.
This had been an ancient life-bearing source star. But for some reason, all its civilization had vanished, every living being had been wiped out.
Could the civilization and life on Earth have some connection to this place?
Temperature, atmosphere, and all other external conditions posed no problem for Ye Fan in his current state. In the past he had drifted alone through the universe for many years — naturally, he would be fine here too.
Once, a dome of light spanning several li had protected this area. Now it was gone entirely. The last sanctuary had become dead ground.
After the initial shock, a surge of fury rose swiftly in Ye Fan’s heart. He thought of the Divine Crocodile and wanted nothing more than to tear the Crocodile Ancestor to pieces. So many things had begun because of it.
Many of his classmates lay buried in this very place. Li Xiaoman had met such a tragic end. This was a place of hatred and wounds.
“If I attain sagehood, I will cut you down!”
Ye Fan did not know where the Crocodile Ancestor was now — perhaps it had long since departed, or perhaps it was lurking nearby, glaring at him with malice. Since he had returned to this place, there was nothing to fear. The power of a Demon Sage was beyond measure. If it were still on this ancient star, it had most likely already sensed his presence. Running would be useless.
Ye Fan steadied his mind, then strode forward. He wanted to visit the ruins of the Great Thunder Sound Temple to see what had become of it.
It was nighttime. Only scattered starlight remained. Everything lay in dim shadow.
Over twenty years had passed. The dome of light that had covered this area for several li was gone. Dust and sand had buried the ruins of the heavenly palace. Ye Fan walked on foot, silently reciting the Scripture of Universal Salvation, praying that the classmates who had died here might find peace in the next life — though he did not truly believe in reincarnation or rebirth, it was the only thing he could do.
A true land of evil. Beneath the Great Thunder Sound Temple lie eighteen levels of hell. Did all the ancient great beings escape?
He was close. At last Ye Fan arrived. The ruins of the Great Thunder Sound Temple were still there — they had not been swallowed by sand. The collapsed halls and rubble still had, between the broken tiles, a few scattered leaves from the Bodhi Sacred Tree.
“How is this possible?”
Ye Fan stared in a daze. Beneath this very foundation lay eighteen levels of hell. Were they still there?
Suddenly, a sense of danger flared in his heart. He spun around abruptly. In the dim darkness, he saw a towering silhouette standing right behind him — a pair of eyes blazing like divine lanterns.