Mars — known in ancient times as Huoying — was a reddish-brown star throughout its entirety, primarily due to its abundant deposits of hematite.
Over twenty years earlier, before Ye Fan had left Earth, he had read a number of related reports. This was a dead star — barren red land without end.
Yet before him now was an expanse of water — pitch black, with crashing waves and roaring tidal surges striking against the heavens.
It was a terrifying scene, incomprehensible and beyond all reason. The Ancient Star Huoying should have had water in the past, but it had dried up countless tens of thousands of years ago.
Ye Fan stared, eyes wide, as the black waves surged and crashed toward him in an instant, nearly swallowing him whole. The briny, fishy water was no illusion. This was real.
He shot into the air and stood suspended above, dumbstruck, nearly petrified. Where had this water come from? What had happened? Was the mythic age of legend returning?
He was deeply on guard, watching those few ghost ships. Though they were far away, he could already sense a profoundly sinister aura from them.
The black ocean swiftly swallowed this entire area. All that met the eye was black waves, waves crashing into the sky, thousands upon thousands of rolling swells — magnificent and boundless.
It all happened too fast. In the blink of an eye, the barren red land was gone. A vast and limitless body of dark water became the only sight. Even the Five-Colored Altar and the ruins of the Great Thunder Sound Temple were submerged.
“Is this still the Ancient Star Huoying?” Ye Fan muttered to himself. This defied all understanding.
In the distance, several ghost ships moved across the waves, always stable, never capsizing. The green ghost fire glowed eerily, growing stranger with every passing moment.
Moreover, a thick and heavy fog spread across the entire surface of the sea, blurring every feature and making it impossible to see clearly.
In so short a time, the entire environment had completely transformed. If Ye Fan had descended upon the Ancient Star Huoying at this very moment, he would have been utterly unable to identify it and would most likely have taken it for some unknown star.
The fog grew denser, and the several ghost ships became even more indistinct. Were it not for the flickering green ghost light, they would have been invisible, about to vanish upon the black ocean.
His old understanding of this world had been overturned. Ye Fan thought carefully, fixing his eyes on those few ghost ships. If he wanted to understand what was happening, he would have to begin there.
He stepped across the surface of the water, moving swiftly forward, trailing a line of water in his wake. His robes billowed and his hair streamed as he drew close to one of the smaller ghost ships.
It was an ancient design, long and broad in form — capable of holding several hundred people without difficulty. Its black hull was wreathed in ribbons of mist, chilling to the bone.
This stretch of sea had grown deathly still. Not even the great waves came anymore. It was a silence like death, not a single sound.
By this point in his cultivation, having fought over a thousand battles, Ye Fan had more than enough experience facing enemies. Naturally, he had no fear of any of this. One might even say that skill inspires boldness — and so he landed aboard the ship.
The fog grew thicker and thicker. Even the Heavenly Eye was affected. This was a fog-shrouded sea imbued with the principles of Dao.
Ye Fan held the Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron above his head and carried the Divine Beating Whip in his hand as he moved through the ancient vessel, searching the darkness. The ship was empty, save for a bronze lamp hanging at the bow, its ghost fire swaying.
He walked toward the cabin. He started — something had snagged his foot. He looked down. It was a corpse, long dead, no telling how many years ago.
He pressed further inward. One corpse, then another, all wearing armor. The iron garments had nearly rotted away. He tapped them lightly with the Divine Beating Whip — a rattling sound, and rusted iron fragments scattered across the floor. Flesh had become ash, and the skeletal remains collapsed and scattered.
What era did these people come from? Were they native inhabitants of the Ancient Star Huoying? Where does this black ocean usually hide? Ye Fan was deeply astonished.
Soon after, he reached the deepest part of the cabin — and found a pool of blood, built from black jade. The blood within had long since dried. Several humanoid beings were encased within the hardened blood-mass.
Without warning, something changed. A hand seized Ye Fan’s ankle from behind — with tremendous force, nearly pulling him off balance.
A corpse had revived, its strength prodigious. It failed to bring him down, but sprang up like an ape, both hands lunging for his throat.
Like a sudden reanimation — the very image of a vengeful spirit seizing a man. Even Ye Fan, long-seasoned by countless battles, was given a start. His hair bristled. He swiftly stepped back, then swung the Divine Beating Whip forward.
Boom!
His force was immense. A king who had severed the Dao, if struck, would be annihilated — body and spirit both. Precious few in this age could match him in raw physical power.
Clatter and crash…
The rotting iron armor shattered on the spot. The bones were ground to powder. That uncanny corpse was smashed to pieces and could cause no more trouble.
Boom!
From within the dried blood pool, the five ancient corpses encased in hardened blood-mass all broke free, letting out piercing howls as they leapt high and lunged at Ye Fan.
Ye Fan spread the five fingers of his left hand wide. Five dragon-shaped pillars of light instantly shot forth, driving clean through. That level of destructive power would be enough to strike down a sect master with lethal force.
Yet five brief sounds rang out — the five blood corpses had been pierced through, but still they surged forward, completely unaffected.
A chill passed through Ye Fan’s heart. These corpses in life must have been immensely powerful — certainly among those who had severed the Dao. The only way to end them now was to reduce them to powder.
Boom!
He shook the cauldron lightly. Streams of primordial energy descended, each strand as heavy as a mountain range. The ancient corpses were ground to dust on the spot, dissolved into the remnants of tribulation fire.
This place is truly strange. These things — from who knows how many tens of thousands of years ago — have not yet decayed, and can still launch attacks… Ye Fan was deeply astonished.
Wuu wuu…
Suddenly, a weeping-like, mournful sound rose up. In the still black dead sea it was especially terrifying, making one’s scalp crawl.
Ye Fan burst out of the cabin at once, onto the deck, eyes locked on the source. It was the bronze ghost lamp hanging at the bow. He drove a fist into it — with a dull thud, the ghost fire was extinguished, and the ancient lamp crumbled to dust.
But the wailing had already spread across the black ocean. Its sound was far-reaching, and the nearby ghost ships rapidly converged. Several corpses stood upon their decks, eerie and disturbing beyond words.
Just a few ancient corpses — they’ve never amounted to anything significant. Nothing to fear. Ye Fan sneered coldly. He unleashed the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist. His two golden fists instantly stirred up sky-swallowing billows, immeasurable golden light surging forth, reducing those several ghost ships and their ancient corpses to powder.
The sea surface calmed. All fell silent. Even the waves stilled. The entire ocean became as quiet as death — not a single sound.
Yet Ye Fan felt uneasy in his heart. An ominous aura was spreading, as though something was about to happen.
Sure enough, not long after, the air grew more oppressive and stifling. Nine enormous black ancient ships suddenly appeared, each as tall as a mountain range.
They came without a sound, as though nine islands had abruptly materialized. Their presence was crushing. The great fog swallowed them, and only the ghost lamps at the bows flickered with dim light.
Dead silence — until the great ships drew close, when a piercing shriek broke the stillness first, followed by a sight that made one’s scalp crawl.
The nine black ships erupted in chaos. Innumerable ghost claws thrashed and writhed, nearly boiling over. Ghost energy surged skyward, a deafening clamor arose, and ghostly shrieks overwhelmed the senses.
Then, like dumplings being dropped into a pot — one after another, in a clattering cascade — thousands upon thousands of ghost corpses leapt from the ships, throwing themselves toward Ye Fan. Many plunged into the black sea, swimming toward him, their ghost claws blanketing the surface of the water.
The sight sent a shiver of dread through one’s very soul.
Unheard of and unseen before — this uncanny spectacle made Ye Fan’s heart pound violently. He could not understand why such a terrifying thing was happening.
Boom!
Powerful ghost corpses flew directly at him, exhaling black clouds as though capable of swallowing heaven and earth into their mouths. Their ghost bodies were enormous, all clad in rusted iron armor.
Ye Fan found himself in serious trouble, submerged in a sea of ghosts. His two golden fists shattered everything in his path, but there were formidable ghost beings among them — with sinew like copper and bones like iron. In life they had certainly been half-sages.
This is… I understand now!
Ye Fan looked at their armor, stared out across the boundless ghost sea, and understood — these must surely be the ancient soldiers he had witnessed on the Five-Colored Altar, now transformed after death.
It followed that somewhere on the Ancient Star Huoying there must be a place of extreme Yin, where countless shadow spirits had been buried — their bodies preserved until now. Each time the mysterious black sea surged, they rose along with it to wreak havoc.
Ye Fan fought on, falling into a desperate situation. There were simply too many ghost corpses. Among them were vengeful spirits born of half-sages. Though their former cultivation was gone, they were still terrifyingly powerful.
Just as he was about to summon the nine-colored flames, a blinding golden radiance suddenly appeared from the far end of the sea, scattering the endless Yin fog, rapidly drawing closer.
It was a glittering great ship, radiating boundless divine brilliance, illuminating all heaven and earth, dispelling the heavy fog. It issued a thunderous Buddhist chant, long and unbroken, resounding throughout the sky.
It was as though one had arrived at Mount Sumeru, with all the Buddhas chanting in unison — transforming into talismanic script, soaring to the sky, suppressing the ghost corpses. Divine radiance surged forth in overwhelming waves.
Buddhist light spread in all directions. Many ghost corpses crumbled to nothing, their forms vanishing like smoke. Still more retreated into the nine black ghost ships, standing off against the resplendent great vessel.
Ye Fan was astonished. With the arrival of these divine Buddhas, the situation had reversed in an instant, sending the ghost beings into retreat. Yet what was this great ship filled with sacred energy?
Abruptly, he went still. Upon that seemingly sacred and radiant great ship, there were no living beings at all. Hundreds of golden-body arhats had long since passed away in seated meditation, skin stretched over bone, their life force spent. Yet every Buddhist chant came from the residual thought and Dharma bodies they had formed before their deaths.
A ship full of dead monks.
Ye Fan counted carefully — no more and no fewer than exactly five hundred elderly monks. Each one had skin stretched over bone, yet there was no aura of death about them. Their skin had turned golden, shimmering with divine light, inscribed with talismanic script.
Could these be the Five Hundred Golden-Body Arhats? He drew a sharp breath.
The resplendent great ship, bearing the Five Hundred Golden-Body Arhats, was heaven-born to suppress ghost beings. The Buddhist chant rang without cease, echoing into the sky. The nine black ghost ships wailed mournfully, and rushed swiftly toward the depths of the black sea.
Boom!
Suddenly, the waves surged ten thousand zhang high. The ocean crashed against the shore, tidal waves spanning thousands of li, as though capable of splitting the heavens apart. Both the ghost ships and the Buddhist ship lost all control, pulled by a tremendous force, rushing toward the north.
At the same time, Ye Fan noticed the black ocean receding — the tide reversing, withdrawing toward the north pole of Huoying at astonishing speed.
What is happening? Ye Fan was baffled. Great stretches of land were re-emerging in many places. He gave chase.
There at the north pole of the Ancient Star Huoying, a vast sea eye appeared. The surging ocean poured entirely into it. The nine ghost ships and the golden Buddhist ship alike were caught in its spinning vortex.
This sea eye was immense, possessed of a demonic nature — capable of swallowing even heaven and earth. The surrounding space warped, and the void around it collapsed unceasingly. Its terror was beyond all bounds.
Ye Fan changed expression on the spot. This was surely the greatest secret of the Ancient Star Huoying. The ocean once thought to have evaporated entirely was here.
Roaaaar…
A great roar thundered, as though the sky and earth were shattering, reverberating from deep within the demon sea eye. Had Ye Fan not been a Holy Physique, he would certainly have been torn apart, dissolved into a mist of blood.
“You little wretch, you have ruined my great work! The immortal burial ground within the Demon Sea Eye — opened only once every thousand years — has now closed like this because of you! I could eat your flesh and drink your blood, and it still would not quench my great fury!”
A vast surge of bloody energy instantly engulfed heaven and earth, threatening to shatter the entire universe. Demonic energy surged to the sky. This was, without question, an ancient Demon Sage.