“I have long since thought it through. There is nothing to regret. I am willing to enter the greatest trial in history!” Ye Fan said without hesitation.
“Good. The path is yours to choose — so long as you have no regrets in the future, all is well.” The old master of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars nodded.
Before departing, Ye Fan and the old master withdrew into a sealed stone chamber, cut off from the outside world. Certain star domain coordinates were to be transmitted there — no one else could approach.
After a considerable time, Ye Fan emerged and said his farewells to Ye Tong, the Sacred Crown Prince, the Black Emperor, Li Heishui, Duan De, Yan Yixi, and the others. The time had come to step onto the ancient celestial road and enter the star domain.
The parting was undeniably sorrowful. He had crossed from the far shore of the starry sky and finally reunited with them — yet now Ye Fan was about to set out once more. This was his choice: to undertake the greatest trial in history.
The obsession that had driven him across that starry shore was no more — his parents were gone. Outside of these old friends and companions, cultivation, attaining the Dao, and ascending to immortality were now his highest pursuits.
“When we meet again, when we reunite — I will come back alive!” Ye Fan raised his hand in farewell, his gaze sweeping across every face.
“Ye Fan, take care!”
“You must take care — come back alive. Bring back the big and little moons, and bring back Pang Bo!”
They all understood: the main reason Ye Fan was walking the path of the greatest trial was to rescue those few — tempering himself came second.
This road was too dangerous. It reopened only once every ten thousand years, and each time, the most brilliant figures of the age would depart and enter the boundless cosmos. Yet across the span of countless ages, only three or five had survived. All the others had spilled their blood in foreign star domains, dying on the battlefield between the stars.
Ye Fan was powerful — but there was no certainty he would make it back alive. There was already precedent: several Sacred Bodies had fallen on this road. This farewell might be the last time they would ever see each other in this lifetime.
“Goodbye!” Ye Fan turned and walked away, resolute and without hesitation.
“Master, you must come back alive!” Ye Tong cried out, tears brimming in her eyes.
“Waaah… Master, you’re really leaving me behind — we come from the same place! How can you abandon me!” The mischievous little spirit Hua Hua wailed.
“Boy, you still owe me a Connate Sacred Body Dao Womb. If you die, I’ll make sure your soul knows no peace — you had better come back alive!” the Black Emperor roared.
“I’ll wait for you to prove the Dao and become an emperor. If this poor Daoist still cannot enter the Immortal Domain this time, then after I awaken from my next stupor, I’ll dig up your great tomb — make sure you leave plenty of treasures inside.” Duan De added.
The Sacred Crown Prince, Li Tian, Li Heishui, Yan Yixi, Dongfang Ye, Yao Yuekong, and the others waved with all their might, shouting their farewells, watching as he walked farther and farther away.
The deepest part of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars was a forbidden ground — outsiders could not approach, let alone find their way there. It was carved with a primordial chaotic grand formation of innate origin, filled with endless killing intent, because this place held the Manor’s most important secret.
Ye Fan and the old sage of the Manor entered this consecrated ground together. Here, traces of formations were everywhere — overlapping and interwoven, dense as a web.
Strands of chaotic energy flickered all around, wrapping the area in an airtight seal. The most terrifying killing formations were laid out here in every direction, turning this place into a forbidden zone of absolute death — few could ever break their way in.
“Before the ancient era, one of the Manor’s former masters obtained a fragment of one of the Nine Secrets — specifically, the one concerning Dao markings. But it was badly incomplete. What a pity — if it had been whole, this formation array would be far more fearsome.” The old master sighed.
He admitted openly that the formation had suffered serious damage over the many long years and was nowhere near as formidable as it once had been. In its prime, any ancient sage who entered would have died without exception — but now, he could not make the same guarantee.
Ye Fan was stunned. A fragment of the Nine Secrets — the one pertaining to Dao markings — was actually preserved here in the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars. If the Black Emperor were to learn of this, he would go absolutely wild with joy. That black dog had been dreaming of obtaining it for years and had been searching for leads all this time.
“Well then — I have shut down the chaotic killing formation. This place is safe now. Had I not, anyone who entered would face indiscriminate attack. Let us proceed.” The old sage said.
Ye Fan understood immediately. A flicker of unusual light passed through his eyes and vanished. He entered the deepest part of this consecrated ground, where ahead of them a colorless altar stood — ancient and majestic, as though it had fallen through time and space from the primordial era.
“Go. Step onto your own path. I hope you will become the greatest in all of history.” The old sage stopped walking.
Ye Fan bowed to him in gratitude, then step by step ascended the five-colored altar.
“This altar is extraordinary. I am about to activate it — are you prepared to cross over?” The old master asked.
“Ready!” Ye Fan nodded.
“BOOM!”
Without warning, the void shattered. A massive earth-yellow hand descended from above, smashing down toward the altar and Ye Fan with incredible speed, its sacred might sweeping outward like a flood.
The old sage’s expression turned to fury, and he bellowed: “How dare you!”
His stooped frame snapped instantly upright. His palm expanded and transformed into a towering silver monument, which he drove upward into the sky to block that enormous hand.
“BOOM!”
Sacred might surged outward, turning into a violent storm in the sky. Every thread of wind was capable of tearing open a black void — terrible and boundless. This was a clash between supreme ancient sages.
A cold sneer rang out, and a second ancient sage appeared. A massive blue-green claw, covered entirely in scale-like armor, spread across half the sky and reached down toward Ye Fan and the five-colored altar.
“Do you want to start an all-out war between the ancient tribes and the human race?” The old sage of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars erupted with fury, hair standing on end. His other great palm struck out and transformed into a second silver monument, its surface flickering with divine markings carved in sacred runes.
“CRACK!”
He clashed palms with the second attacker and drove him back into the sky.
But then a third wave of energy appeared — sudden and impossibly powerful. A massive black claw reached out from the clouds, stretching an indeterminate number of kilometers, its demonic might blotting out the sun.
Even from several hundred kilometers away, this terrifying sight was visible. That enormous claw looked truly like the hand of heaven itself, capable of erasing everything in the mortal world.
The old sage of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars let out a roar, threw back his head, and released a long howl. In all four directions, the clouds surged. From his nose and mouth billowed a silver-white true dragon — his innate primal life essence — which charged into the clouds above and slashed toward that black hand.
“Impressive — your cultivation is clearly unfathomably deep, to have held off three ancient sages simultaneously. But let us see how long you can hold out!”
These words came from a sage-king hovering in the void, speaking with cold indifference. His voice caused the Great Dao to thunder and heaven and earth to shake. His body was a blur of shifting light. He took one step across the distance and struck toward Ye Fan and the five-colored altar.
“Ah—!” The old sage of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars erupted with fury, the hair at his temples bristling. He let out a great cry, and between his brows a third eye opened. A beam of divine light shot out, piercing straight toward this sage-king.
“RUMBLE!”
Then the most terrifying thing of all occurred. A fifth ancient sage appeared — another arrival. Though not a sage-king, he was formidable enough. With a single great stomp, he drove his foot downward toward Ye Fan, intending to crush him alive.
“You go too far — forcing your way into my Manor of Extraordinary Scholars, committing violence, and doing it so openly — do you truly want to ignite a full-scale war between the ancient tribes and the human race?” The old sage stood like an old lion, fury written across every line of his face.
Without question, all of these individuals had come for Ye Fan — to kill him and seize the five-colored altar for use by the ancient tribes.
“Ha. A human Sacred Body won’t survive the day. Old man, there’s no need to protect a dead person. Fighting to the death for someone already lost is not worth it. And besides — with just your Manor of Extraordinary Scholars, you cannot protect this five-colored altar any longer.”
The ancient sage said it coldly, filled with pitiless killing intent.
“This old one will fight you all to the end!” The old sage’s eyes had gone red. Something like an endless rage boiled within him, driving him to want to tear these people apart.
“RUMBLE!”
The void split open. A sixth ancient sage appeared, his body wreathed in tens of thousands of divine rings, a pair of sacred wings spread behind him — radiant and resplendent. He was a sage-king.
“Fighting alone, you are utterly helpless. This struggle of yours is nothing but a pointless death!” This newly arrived sage-king said flatly.
Ye Fan stood on the altar and bellowed at the six ancient sages: “A pack of despicable ancient sages — shameless and without the slightest sense of dignity! For the sake of a single path-severing cultivator like me, you mobilize all of this, six sages converging in one place — are you not embarrassed to act against one person with such overwhelming force?!”
“You are nothing but an ant. Were it not for a great sage who divined a thread of heavenly mystery pointing to your future potential, we would never have moved for your sake.” One ancient sage said coldly.
“In the end, you are afraid. Come at me alone, if any of you dare!” Ye Fan roared.
“Killing you is like butchering a common chicken — no effort whatsoever.” One ancient sage said frostily. A massive purple hand descended from the lead-grey clouds, slapping down toward his physical body.
This hand was immense — thunderous and reverberating. It seemed as though the heavens in all ten directions were about to collapse. Every one of the purple scales covering it was several meters long — horrifying beyond measure.
“Master!” Ye Tong and the others, watching from a distance, cried out in terror. They could see clearly — and they knew it was over. With this many ancient sages making their move, including sage-kings among them, how could the old master of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars, fighting alone, hold them all off? There was no way he could protect Ye Fan.
“This is terrible — the ancient sages have made their move, and so many of them, all at once. Ye Fan has no path to survival. What can we do?!”
“Truly shameless. So many ancient sages acting together, all converging at once — not a shred of humanity among them. They want to eliminate our human race’s Sacred Body without any regard for rules or principles. It is an outrage!”
Whether it was Ye Fan’s companions like Li Tian, or the senior figures of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars — everyone was roaring in fury, faces livid, every one of them on the verge of boiling over.
With this many ancient sages descending, it was plain that they intended to leave Ye Fan no path of survival whatsoever. At the same time, it showed just how wary they were of a human Sacred Body — afraid of his growth, afraid of him walking the road of the greatest trial, and ultimately proving the Dao and returning.
And so they struck now, with overwhelming force and utter disregard — aiming to snuff him out, to strangle him completely in the cradle of his growth.
“You want to walk the road of the greatest trial? Save it for your next life. Be born into a better body. In this life, you have no hope!”
For the past several months, the ancient tribes had made no move because they could find no trace of Ye Fan — but they had long since learned that he would walk this ancient celestial road, and had come for exactly that reason.
The Sacred Body was one of the most powerful constitutions in all the cosmos. The ancient tribes regarded it with deep wariness. Some of the more radical royal bloodlines could not tolerate seeing him attain sagehood — and even less did they want to see the full flowering of his power in the future.
“Damn it all!” A senior figure of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars clenched his fists so tightly that blood dripped from his palms, maddened by this outcome to the point where he could barely breathe.
“Master!” Ye Tong’s eyes were brimming with hot tears. She couldn’t stop herself from screaming. She wanted to rush forward — but the Black Emperor pinned her down firmly, telling her to hold back and wait for vengeance.
“If anything happens to Ye Fan, on the day I attain sagehood, I will personally pay a visit to every one of these ancient sages.” Li Tian said in a voice like ice.
“Master, please don’t die…” The little bald head wept loudly.
These people had fallen into complete despair. So many ancient sages, all at once — including sage-kings. How could anyone stand against this?
“There is nothing to worry about.” Suddenly, a familiar voice came — and a figure walked out from that sealed stone chamber in the distance.
He drew near and reached out to pat Hua Hua’s small bald head. “Don’t cry.” He wiped away the streams of tears rolling down the child’s face.
The entire group stood frozen. The one who had arrived was Ye Fan himself — and that stone chamber was the very same one he and the old master had entered together not long before.
“This… what is happening? You are Ye Fan — but then who is the person on the five-colored altar?” Several of the Manor’s senior figures were completely bewildered.
“I need an explanation!” The Black Emperor bared its teeth.
“For now, we just sit back and watch the show.” Ye Fan smiled and looked toward the deepest part of the Manor of Extraordinary Scholars, where the battle was still unfolding.
They understood: since Ye Fan was standing right here, unharmed, it was obvious — those ancient sages had walked straight into a trap, and they were about to pay a very steep price.