Nine Stars in Alignment!
On Earth, those at various astronomical observatories were shocked. This wondrous spectacle was unfolding in the outer domain, causing many people’s jaws to drop as they stared in utter disbelief.
Such a phenomenon was not impossible in itself. In the year two hundred, there had been a Seven-Planet Alignment, and in theory the nine major planets could form a single line once every six thousand years.
Yet what lay before their eyes was too overwhelming to comprehend. In that outer domain, nine great stars had suddenly appeared, blazing with intense light, as brilliant as nine suns.
How had these nine great stars suddenly materialized within the solar system? Abnormal beyond all reckoning — completely unrealistic, utterly incomprehensible.
Moreover, a series of photographs transmitted back by an external space probe caused an even greater earthquake among major research institutions. In the distant cosmic void, ten thousand zhang of lightning were flashing.
Most shocking of all was this: just moments ago, a person had been surging through the thunder sea, as though a divine battle had unfolded — facing off against several human-shaped lightning forms — something too extraordinary to believe.
Such mysterious footage was naturally classified at the highest level of secrecy, impossible to appear in the ordinary world. It was sealed by every major authority, accessible only to a small number of relevant personnel.
“Go find a priest at a church and ask what on earth is happening. Better yet, go to the Vatican and consult the Pope about what this phenomenon portends.”
“The Pope… was killed by people from the Heavenly Court three years ago.”
“Then go to the Heavenly Court and consult the celestial masters there!”
…
Heavenly Court buildings across all regions were grand and sacred, surpassing even the churches of the Vatican. On this day, many important figures came to visit, earnestly consulting with the ordained clergy. The pure mind-power accumulated within the Heavenly Court increased considerably.
For the Heavenly Court, Ye Fan’s Dao severance tribulation presented an opportunity. For as time passed, the Heavenly Court buildings in various locations resonated with one another, and threads of divine radiance began to emerge — a vast and varied spectacle. Those in close proximity found all their long-standing ailments completely cured.
This was a sign of great flourishing — though it might also be the omen of self-destruction. Everything depended on whether the Master of the Heavenly Court could endure.
Out in the outer domain, snow-white bone fragments, golden blood, shattered organs — all scattered everywhere, flickering with immortal radiance, crystalline and translucent, transforming into all manner of Dao manifestations.
They dissolved, then were reborn, continuously changing. Sun and moon, stars and rivers, magnificent ancient stars, brilliant star domains — every drop of blood was a wondrous spectacle unto itself.
Ye Fan’s True Self decomposed; blood and bone transformed into a brilliant galactic river and mysterious star formations, emanating an aura of vast antiquity spanning ten thousand ages, corresponding to every star in the heavens above.
In this moment, densely packed, everywhere were points of light — formed from the dissolution of his hair, his bone fragments, his internal organs — something extremely bizarre.
Half visible, half gone, scripture after scripture seemed to arrive from the ancient age. Someone was reciting and praying, offering blessings for this life and the life to come.
Ye Fan’s Original Self was destroyed — nearly slain in the void. Even his Primordial Spirit became scattered points of light, transforming into ancient stars rotating within this sea of stars.
The nine young Emperors attacked simultaneously. No one could have withstood them — it had always been thus. They were the central figures of heaven and earth in each of their respective eras. Even if someone today were called the “foremost individual,” capable of attaining Dao and becoming an Emperor — they would only join the ranks of these figures.
The True Self along with the Primordial Spirit shattered together in the void. The embryonic bones transformed into a number of stars like the sands of the Ganges River, radiating light that illuminated all past, present, and future. Yet the nine Emperors did not attack.
Because they had been drawn toward another target, and were attacking it.
The Faded Self was a dim and indistinct silhouette, seated cross-legged in the past. As the galactic river flowed, his Dao manifestations were innate, submerged beneath the silver light of the ages, as though separated across an immeasurably long river of time — forever impossible to approach.
The nine young Emperors attacked together, striking forward — yet it was as though an eternity of ages stretched between them. Their first strikes could not reach his body.
“Crack!”
Among the human-shaped lightning forms, one had cultivated an extraordinary secret technique. As his two hands traced through the air, it was as though he had thrown space and time into chaos, sending his power toward the past — crashing into the Faded Self.
The Faded Self struck back. He recited ancient scriptures aloud — for the sake of this current life — as though seated in the ancient age, facing the young Emperor across an immeasurably long river of time.
The two of them attacked each other in succession, striking back and forth in a bizarre battle — near-illusory, difficult to see clearly. It was not an encounter of true bodies, but a crushing contest of Dao principles.
The Faded Self bought time for Ye Fan, keeping one Emperor occupied. The shattered bones and golden blood-flesh, having transformed into sun, moon, and stars — a sky full of galactic rivers — evolved at great speed. The scriptures became patterns, densely inscribed upon every ancient star.
“Boom!”
The other young Emperors each displayed their own methods and also struck. They manifested the extremities of their Daos, and their tremendous power shattered all falsehood, attacking the Faded Self and causing him to rapidly wear away.
“Faded Self…”
From among the shattered embryonic bones, Ye Fan let out a sigh. He had transformed into star formations, corresponding to all the stars in every heaven, drawing upon starlight to forge the True Self’s Dao body.
Far ahead, “the Dao Self Ye Fan” attained clarity of mind and perceived the Dao, standing in the future, contemplating the supreme principles of heaven and earth, sensing the great Dao of his own being. Heaven and humanity resonated together — impossible not to attract attention.
The nine young Emperors attacked forward, moving to extinguish the Dao Self in the future. Their abilities could pierce the heavens. After their first strike went wide, someone rapidly produced a wondrous technique: even with that person standing in the future, he could still be wounded.
So long as they could reach him, any opponent would be obliterated. No one could withstand nine young Emperors — throughout all eternity, not a single person could be found.
Contemplating the Dao in the future, the Dao Self Ye Fan was also struck down, becoming a void. In the sky, only ancient star after ancient star remained — galactic rivers stretching on and on, star domains spreading far and wide.
Ye Fan’s true body was in transformation. Several ancient scriptures fused into a single furnace; he was molting, giving birth to his own Dao — nurturing a hundred scriptures within his body, containing ten thousand Daos within one form. Using himself as the dragon spine, threading together the profound meanings of every scripture, breaking free.
“Spirit, conviction, Dao — shed the old skin and be reborn. Break free from the shackles. Give birth to a Dao that belongs to me alone.”
He took heaven and earth as his furnace, took all the various scriptures as his fire, burned and smelted himself, brought this furnace to a blazing red, refined his own being, tempered the True Self.
Flesh and blood became ancient stars; the Dao bones became galactic rivers. This was a strange transformation that not even Ye Fan himself could control — seeming real yet illusory.
Looking carefully, it was still flesh and blood and white bone. Yet in a dreaming glance it was ancient star after ancient star, filled with life, evolving the primordial energy of all creation.
“Dao as a thing — indistinct, nebulous. Within it there is substance; within it there is essence…”
The faint sound of recited scripture arose once more. The Faded Self appeared again — as though seated in the ancient age, blurred and indistinct, reciting scriptures for this current life.
The Faded Self was born in the past — speaking of extinguishment or inextinguishability meant nothing. So long as Ye Fan’s Original Self lived, a single thought would summon it again. There is an inexhaustible succession of pasts — it cannot be severed, cannot be slain.
The nine young Emperors were ultimately only a heavenly tribulation — human-shaped Dao markings — not real people. They were responsible only for destruction and could not think like human beings. So they struck once more.
They overlooked the True Self — the Original Self — for at this moment it had shattered, transforming into a number of stars like the sands of the Ganges River, the Primordial Spirit equally so. It was no longer a living being.
The same was true for the Dao Self Ye Fan: so long as Ye Fan’s true consciousness remained, there would always be a future; there would always be endless possibilities; it could be reborn in a single thought, giving rise to the Dao Self once more!
Time flowed on. His single true consciousness wandered between the Faded Self and the Dao Self, drawing the nine young Emperors into repeatedly attacking — consuming precious moments of time.
This was a miracle. From ancient times to the present, only he had managed by this method to endure for so long against nine young Emperors.
Several of the nine great stars hanging in the void had long since dimmed. The time had stretched too long. Although several new young Emperors had been replaced in the interim, the overall duration of the heavenly tribulation was finally long enough — the manifestation would soon disappear.
And it was at precisely this moment that Ye Fan’s transformation had reached a certain threshold. The nine Emperors were not attacking his dissolving embryonic bones because he truly no longer existed within them.
In a certain sense, his true body had died. All that remained was an unextinguished, powerful will, wandering between the Faded Self and the Dao Self.
“Boom!”
Ye Fan nurtured a hundred scriptures within a single furnace, contained ten thousand Daos within one body. His flesh and blood, his bone fragments, ultimately reassembled — transforming into a dragon spine that threaded through every scripture. He broke free, evolving his own Dao.
Though it was still an embryonic form — not yet perfectly refined — it had already resolved the hidden danger of the five great secret realms being unable to connect the various scriptures. His entire body now moved as one.
The True Self manifested the divine form, revealing the Dao manifestation!
The sound of recited scriptures, the ear-shaking resonance of the Dao — these arrived in waves. The Faded Self from the past and the Dao Self from the future walked toward him together — as though one Yin and one Yang, as though two flowing currents merging into one Dao.
The Book of Changes states: “The alternation of Yin and Yang is called the Dao.”
Yin and Yang are the father and mother of all things in the world — the origin of all change throughout the universe. As the Faded Self and the Dao Self joined together, they transformed into a golden Taichi circle.
Their merging became the Dao itself. And at this moment, the True Self was reborn within the golden circle — ancient star after ancient star, galactic river after galactic river, star domain after star domain, gathering together and blazing with brilliance. Ye Fan’s true body was manifested.
The Faded Self and the Dao Self merged, producing wondrous transformation. Within the Taichi golden circle, the Original Self was reborn. Ye Fan reappeared in the mortal world.
Yin and Yang united, becoming the Dao. Scripture after scripture densely inscribed, carved throughout the circle. Ye Fan himself was the naturally formed Dao marking curve at the center — truly manifested.
“Break free — my Dao!”
Ye Fan let out a great shout, surging upward from among the nine young Emperors, charging against the heavens. He very much wished to face one of the young Emperors in direct combat, wanting to contend with the mightiest of the former age.
Yet at this moment, the nine great stars dimmed. Every human-shaped lightning form receded. Too much time had passed. Everything would now disappear.
The Dao sustains heaven and earth, encompasses all things, harbors the essence of the universe.
Ye Fan’s flesh radiated light, as though composed of ancient stars and star domains. Slain dozens of times, he had shed his old shell and been reborn. The five secret realms within him were now fully connected, linked by galactic rivers. He had finally stepped upon his own path.
The Faded Self and the Dao Self merged, united to generate the Dao, giving birth to the True Self — perhaps still far from complete, but a foundation had been formed.
Starlight point by point, Ye Fan’s body appeared composed of countless stars. He had taken his first steps upon his own path. His entire body flowed as one — every drop of blood like a living ancient star.
“One ancient star, one great Dao. Smelt all things together, let the furnace nurture a hundred scriptures, let the body encompass ten thousand Daos, all returning to a single furnace-body. This is the foundation and starting point of my Dao.”
Ye Fan’s fist crashed forward — but the nine great stars had already vanished into illusion, disappearing entirely. His fist passed through the ethereal forms of the nine Emperors, and they were gone.
The heavenly tribulation had not yet dissipated — the thunder sea still remained. Yet the most terrifying and dangerous moment had already passed. Ye Fan drew ten million bolts of lightning into his body and refined them all.
The cauldron hovered above his head, advancing and retreating with him as one. He ascended step by step toward the heavens, and with a soft exclamation declared: “The Dao rises!”
Using the lightning as kindling, he inscribed the Dao upon the cauldron. Before his brow, the cauldron rang with a sonorous tone and merged with him — the two becoming one.
He had placed great hopes upon this cauldron. If his flesh and embryonic bones were like ancient stars and galactic rivers, then this cauldron was the transcendent “One” — the singular thing that broke free above them all.
Ye Fan ascended toward the heavens, arriving at the deepest reaches of the heavenly tribulation. He entered a realm of magnificent ancient structures, also born from lightning.
“Is this the Ancient Heavenly Court?” He stood before the Southern Celestial Gate.