“A Fire Spirit Stone — heavens, you have truly extraordinary fortune! To find something like that, others could search their entire lives and never come across even the smallest fragment!”

“For tempering the supreme body evolution liquid, this is the most important divine mineral aside from the six primary materials — and you actually found it. Truly heaven-defying luck!”

“The harvest you’ve brought back this time is exceedingly rich. Those above have said: everything gained on this expedition, apart from anything left behind by Wan Qing, belongs to those who found it. If you put this up for auction, it will bring benefit to your people for generations.”

On the massive platform, two spacecraft were docked. One side was filled with envious admiration, while the other was floating on air with elation.

The Fire Spirit Stone was not a primary ingredient, but as a divine mineral used as a supplementary material, it was still priceless. If the great powers were to learn of it, they would certainly beat their heads bloody competing to bid for it.

Ye Fan was astonished. He had not imagined that the materials needed for the supreme body evolution liquid would be this precious. No wonder the purple-eyed young woman and her brother, along with the others, had gone to such desperate lengths — fighting him with everything they had, and even when others were captured or killed, returning again and again to seize it back.

If even a single supplementary material was this valuable, one could not even dream of finding the divine primary materials. To see them even once in several lifetimes would be rare.

In short — for the purple-eyed young woman and her group to have successfully gathered everything they needed was nothing short of a miracle, truly against the heavens. That was why they refused to let go, willing to sacrifice their lives.

“A race that fuses technology and the great Dao — truly something to be wary of,” Ye Fan murmured.

He had had a profound experience with the supreme body evolution liquid. It was undoubtedly a supreme treasure. The purple-eyed young woman’s group had only refined the minerals for a little over a decade, and even with just some crude preliminary liquid, he had smoothly advanced an entire realm and stolen the fortune of creation.

“Wan Qing is truly an undying legend. Having vanished for twenty to thirty thousand years, his influence is still this vast — making even kings and lords everywhere unable to sit still.” One person sighed.

“This star domain has been searched thoroughly enough. We can head back — we have accomplished our mission.”

“Indeed. Many others have already left. It’s time we took the road home. There are still a few dangerous places in this star domain, but those will be covered by the saint-level vessel — we cannot venture there.”

This was an abandoned base of theirs, tens of thousands of years old, and they had merely passed through to make use of it again. There was a stargate here.

Ye Fan’s eyes gleamed with light. He had been overly concerned. These two spacecraft were no sacred weapons — they could not compare with the flying saucers encountered outside the Undying Mountain, and posed no threat to him.

He pushed his physical capabilities to their limit, then took out a few wooden blocks — branches of the Enlightenment Ancient Tree, carved by the Black Emperor with Heaven-Deceiving Formation patterns capable of concealing even from a heavenly tribulation.

When an ancient stargate began to open, Ye Fan was deeply impressed. The round portal had streams of light flowing within, like a node where time and space converged, leading to some unknown destination.

As the two spacecraft surged in, he silently and swiftly approached and attached himself to the hull of one, riding along as it crossed through.

Ye Fan was being quite audacious. He temporarily left the longitudinal ancient stellar road and moved laterally — following the spacecraft into their domain.

Time blurred as they traveled. The two spacecraft shot out of the stargate and entered a dark region of the universe — vast and desolate in every direction, brimming with desolation and cold.

Far away, stars glimmered. This entire star domain lay in dead silence, without a single sound or fluctuation, a monotony that weighed heavily on the spirit.

“What rotten luck — that base hasn’t been used in tens of thousands of years and has long since fallen to ruin. The stargate’s transmission range was limited and we came out early. If we get lost, that would be real trouble.”

“When will we ever have a saint-level vessel of our own? With that, we could open a stargate anywhere at any time.”

Those on the two spacecraft grumbled, though they soon rallied their spirits.

“Fortunately, we haven’t gotten lost. An energy failure out here would eventually mean death in the cosmos. There is a small asteroid ahead — it’s a base left over from tens of thousands of years ago. We can return from there.”

“Full speed ahead!”

Once certain of their direction, they began accelerating. Like streaks of light they cut across the sky, the two craft speeding toward the distance one behind the other.

Life was wondrous, yet compared to the boundless expanse of the cosmos, it was truly minuscule. For an ordinary person, crossing from one star domain to another was all but impossible.

Only those who had reached the very forefront — those who wielded immense power — could do so. Only a select few among living beings could achieve it.

“Hey, you obtained the Fire Spirit Stone — did you find anything else? Perhaps there were still more divine minerals in that star domain.”

“Nothing. We combed it thoroughly. We got it from a lower race that lives underground. They actually had a half-sage-level existence — it nearly caused us to fail. In the end, we used five-colored divine light to sweep away the Fire Spirit Stone.”

Ye Fan was struck. He thought of his own experience — it had been precisely one such divine light that had scanned him, ending in his capture aboard a flying saucer.

“The five elemental forces are endlessly profound. Even if you can’t defeat them, those primitive races cannot stop you. You can withdraw from the situation at your ease.”

“Since they produced a half-sage, their bloodline must be quite exceptional. Did you collect any blood samples?”

“Killed a few of the inferior monkeys and brought the blood back.”

“Good.”

Ye Fan listened to their exchange and smiled coldly. He detached the Heaven-Deceiving Formation patterns — and naturally, his life fluctuations and presence were immediately detected. But this was of no matter, since everything was within his control.

Hum!

Two golden giant hands reached out, pressing down hard upon the two spacecraft, preventing any escape. With a physical body that rivaled a Great Saint’s, how could these people possibly break free?

“Such powerful life fluctuations — his physical body rivals even the blood descendants that the various kings and lords have painstakingly cultivated. That golden qi and blood is so oppressive one can barely breathe. Too terrifying.”

“Quick — attack him! Use the five-colored divine light to bind him!”

The group shouted, their faces drained white, terror reaching its peak. The strongest among them was only at the second tier of the Immortal Platform. They could not contend with him in direct combat — their only hope was to borrow the power of the vessel.

Hiss, hiss, hiss…

Five-colored divine light swept toward him, saturated with the power of the five elements, a blaze of brilliant color — capable of binding living creatures, regardless of how strong their bloodline.

Clang!

Ye Fan had it in mind to test it, but he was not about to take chances. He played it safe: he brought forth the All-Things Mother Qi Cauldron, and from it descended ten thousand silken threads, blocking every beam of light. The five-colored divine light could not pierce through.

Ye Fan exhaled a breath of life essence. The people outside went flying like straw men, one after another vomiting blood, and then collapsed limply to the ground.

He then raised his hand and drew out the people from both spacecraft, binding them in place — more than a dozen extraterrestrial beings in total, blood dripping from the corners of their mouths, every one of them wide-eyed with fear.

“This is a robbery. All of you extraterrestrial beings are now my prisoners. Get down on the ground, hands on your heads, and don’t move,” Ye Fan said, a slight smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

“What… what are you, and from which star domain do you come?” one of them asked in a trembling voice.

“Do you know where we come from? We are from the Eternal Kingdom — do you have any idea what consequences provoking us will bring?” another said with stubborn defiance, attempting a threat.

Ye Fan responded with a single action: one kick to send them sprawling, and then: “As prisoners, you should know your place. Shut your mouths — answer what I ask, say nothing else, or I will make sure you are permanently silent.”

Deep within their eyes burned hatred — but on the surface, they became considerably more obedient. Not one of them dared speak again. Hands on heads, they crouched on the ground, waiting for him to speak.

“You six, go over and repair the stargate!” Ye Fan pointed out six individuals.

The six stood up, their expressions composed, and walked toward the stargate. They began constructing the platform, activating the stargate — all manner of patterns lit up as though coming alive, one by one glowing bright.

Suddenly, a sheet of light blazed out from the stargate and swept toward Ye Fan. They had drawn out a terrifying force from within the void — cosmic power summoned from the empty universe — intending to cut him down on the spot.

“Inferior race, die!”

A chorus of miserable screams rang out. Seven or eight of the extraterrestrial beings on the spot were dissolved into pools of blood and gore, dying without any remains — not one survived.

“Dead!” At the stargate, the six were overjoyed.

“You celebrated a little too soon,” said Ye Fan’s voice — right beside them.

With the walking character technique, he had been there and gone in an instant, leaving behind nothing but a residual afterimage in his original position — surpassing their ability to react. He now stood before them, entirely composed.

“You…”

“What do you mean, ‘you’!” Ye Fan stepped forward. The leader of the group was crushed by his overwhelming presence, his bones snapping and tendons breaking, and he went flying — but his life was not taken.

Ye Fan wanted to enter the Eternal Kingdom. He needed these few individuals for that.

In that thriving star domain, several supreme physiques were said to exist. The purple-eyed young woman had told him that the Eternal Kingdom even had ancient divine blood kept sealed within it. Moreover, the Azure Emperor had left a secret there — all of it worth going to see.

The leader slammed to the ground. From his body, a container fell loose, its lid cracking open, sending a dazzling light soaring straight into the heavens. A divine stone was revealed — bright as a crimson cloud, crystalline as a diamond — radiating sacred and gentle light, its luminescence flooding the entire area.