This was a crystalline divine stone, roughly the size of an adult’s fist, entirely flame-red, with a small aperture on its surface as though it were breathing — as though it possessed a life of its own.
Crimson light pierced the heavens, dyeing the clouds above this small asteroid red. It brimmed with life essence, resembling a blood diamond, its entire body a vivid, dripping scarlet. Anyone who laid eyes on it would immediately know it was a divine object.
A Fire God Stone!
This was the supreme treasure of the Fire God Monkey clan, who dwelled beside rivers of lava. It was a type of divine mineral ore — exceedingly rare in the Desolate universe, with very few ever discovered throughout all of history.
The six prisoners stared at this divine stone as it fell to the ground. Each of them inhaled sharply, their eyes turning bloodshot. This stone represented the future prosperity of their clan. Even a small piece like this could launch them to dizzying heights, making them sought after by lords and kings on all sides.
“Don’t let your eyes turn red with envy. Does this belong to you? It originally belonged to the Fire God Monkey clan — the so-called lower race you speak of — and was plundered by you.” Ye Fan bent down and picked up the stone.
To his surprise, it was not scalding hot at all. It was warm throughout. A tide of flame-red mist swept across the surface of his body, as though he were soaking in a hot spring, his very bones pleasantly warm.
“Truly a fine treasure. Even without refining it into medicine, simply wearing it on one’s person year-round would be of great benefit to one’s cultivation.” Ye Fan nodded, then carefully put it away.
The six prisoners breathed in short, agitated bursts, every one of them restless and vexed. Having lost their supreme treasure, they desperately wanted to lunge forward and fight back — but they lacked the strength, and were driven nearly to despair.
The leader wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said, “You are an ascetic cultivator who unlocks the latent potential of the human body. Something like this isn’t of much use to you. Why not come with us to the Eternal Realm? Present it as a tribute to one of the lords there, and you may receive the ultimate evolution elixir. Now that would be a true divine object for someone like you.”
“Do you know a great deal about this ultimate divine elixir?” Ye Fan asked, his expression blank.
“I wouldn’t say a great deal, but I know it would certainly be of boundless use to you. You should know that some of the rarest and most powerful constitutions in all of history have been born from it.” The leader said.
Ye Fan had learned from the violet-eyed woman that indeed several of the most powerful bloodlines had appeared in her realm. He couldn’t help but press for more details.
“I’ve heard there is the Primordial Demonic Body, the Brahma Heavenly War Body, the Paramount Immortal Body, and others — each more terrifying than the last. All have appeared at one time or another throughout ancient history, absolutely astounding!”
Ye Fan was genuinely surprised and listened carefully.
According to this man, people in this star domain placed great importance on comprehending and understanding the Dao, but barely cultivated the body at all. They relied almost entirely on external forces to break through, making the evolution elixir critically important.
It was precisely because of this that they blasted open ancient star after ancient star in search of divine minerals, refining them into precious elixirs so that people could continuously transform themselves.
Furthermore, a certain faction had ventured beyond the domain to capture powerful life forms and extract their blood, using it to fuel their own evolution.
Over countless years, truly some of the most powerful individuals had been born this way — with profound comprehension of the Dao, and physical bodies refined to a state of absolute perfection, sweeping all before them.
“A most fascinating star domain. It truly is worth making a trip there.” Ye Fan’s eyes shone like two golden lanterns, radiating brilliant light.
The six prisoners lobbied him relentlessly, urging him to enter the Eternal Realm with them. They would personally make introductions on his behalf, and with a constitution like his, he was sure to be valued and welcomed as an honored guest in the mansion of any great lord.
“You’ve got quite the nerve. Bad enough that you want to save your own skins — on top of that, you’re trying to sell me off!” Ye Fan laughed coldly.
These people simply wanted him to spare them and take them along on his return. Instead, the more they pleaded, the more devious their intentions became.
“A misunderstanding — we mean no harm!” The leader’s expression changed, and he scrambled to explain.
Ye Fan pointed a finger. The foreheads of all six men became crystalline. Their immortal platforms convulsed, and their shining seas of consciousness were stripped out entirely, flickering in mid-air.
“Ah — what are you doing?!” The six men cried out in panic. They found their divine souls had left their bodies, on the verge of annihilation at any moment, each one gripped by absolute terror.
After a brief examination, Ye Fan confirmed that these six prisoners had indeed harbored ill intentions. If they returned to the Eternal Realm, they not only planned to reclaim the Fire God Stone but truly intended to sell his flesh and blood for enormous profit.
“Nothing but prisoners at the bottom of the barrel, and even before you’ve freed yourselves, you’ve already started scheming against me, plotting to sell me off. You really are something…” The corner of Ye Fan’s mouth curved into a cruel smile.
“We were wrong — please spare us!” In that moment, genuine terror gripped them. Those had only been thoughts in their heads — yet now they were laid utterly bare, impossible to conceal.
The sea of consciousness within the human body is exceptionally complex. Under normal circumstances, even powerful cultivators are reluctant to read the memories of others, for doing so fills one’s own sea of consciousness with an overwhelming tangle of impressions — the equivalent of living through another person’s entire complicated life.
Many cultivators, upon emerging to face the world, hope to shed the dust of mundane existence, maintain a peaceful state of mind, reduce stray thoughts, and draw closer to the Dao.
It is precisely because of this excess of tangled feelings that the primordial spirit can easily decay. Some powerful cultivators, in their later years, even sever their “worldly heart” — all to keep their mind as clear as a mirror and align themselves with the Dao.
Ye Fan had no such worries. Yet even so, he had no desire to take on too many of another person’s memories. Now, wanting to enter the Eternal Realm, he had no choice but to selectively read what he needed.
Complicated lives, wondrous realms, strange and varied experiences — all flowed past him one by one.
In the end, Ye Fan retained only certain key pieces of information and flashes of insight that might aid his comprehension of the Dao, erasing everything else — all the miscellaneous memories that did not belong to him — completely clean.
Six flames of the primordial spirit bloomed, then were extinguished. Ye Fan destroyed one of the spacecraft and buried the bodies together with it.
Afterward, he personally repaired the star gate himself. A divine ring flickered — as though cast from metal, gleaming with a cold, sharp luster — while the interior shimmered with an otherworldly haze.
Ye Fan piloted the other spacecraft, streaking through it like a shaft of metallic light as he plunged into the star gate. Everything he had done drew from what he had learned through searching the others’ seas of consciousness.
He didn’t know how much time passed, but he completed the spatial jump and burst forth from an ancient star gate into a dazzling expanse of starry sky.
“This is the place. I can feel the breath of a life ancient star!”
Something stirred in Ye Fan’s heart. Directly ahead, there was absolutely a life-bearing star suitable for habitation. Even from a great distance, he could sense that peculiar fluctuation.
He piloted the spacecraft into this life-bearing star domain, and not long after drawing near, his mind was struck with a tremendous shock. Before him was a great star — no lesser than the Northern Dipper, no inferior to the Purple Tenuity — radiating a presence of overwhelming, magnificent power.
The aura of an ancient Great Emperor!
How could this be? Ye Fan’s heart trembled. It was as though a Great Emperor lay dormant here — like standing before the Purple Mountain and facing the silhouette of the Beginningless Great Emperor on the Dao platform, or like that terrifying pressure he had felt when venturing deep into the Primordial Forbidden Zone.
“Was a Great Emperor born here?”
A surge of astonishment rose in Ye Fan’s heart, impossible to calm. He didn’t dare approach immediately. He noticed that within this star domain there were several smaller life-bearing stars as well.
For just then, the screen on the spacecraft flickered without pause, locking onto one of the planets — the destination this vessel had been bound for.
“The great star is the Eternal Realm. The several smaller life-bearing stars are its subordinate territories. I never expected to discover multiple life-bearing stars in a single star domain at once!”
Without a doubt, these all belonged to the same civilization, merely occupied by different major factions. This was a place straight out of a dream.
Ye Fan did not approach. He had no intention of charging in recklessly. He wanted to blend in through an extremely careful and reliable method. After all, this was a powerful star domain — one misstep could lead to total and utter ruin. This group looked down upon all other races as inferior, and for good reason.
He guided the spacecraft deep into the sea of stars, temporarily putting some distance between himself and the several ancient life-bearing stars, carefully familiarizing himself with this domain. He even laid down array platforms in various locations, so that if things ever went wrong, he could use them to retreat.
Suddenly, fierce fluctuations erupted ahead. A brilliant surge of light burst upward, radiating in all directions. Ye Fan was startled — an enormous fleet was engaged in battle.
The power was staggering, enough to obliterate small asteroids. Light beams struck warships, leaving absolutely nothing behind — only cinders and ash.
It was as though sun after sun were detonating there. Blinding radiance flooded the cosmos, turning that region of space as bright as day, resplendent and breathtaking.
Ye Fan was stunned. Within that area, asteroid after asteroid was being annihilated. Through the screen inside the spacecraft, he watched that battle with perfect clarity.
Both sides fielded no small number of warships, but one side was clearly losing — routed and fleeing, ship after ship exploding into showers of light like flowers of fireworks blooming in the void.
To witness such a spectacle in the universe was simultaneously brilliant, cruel, and beautiful. Every ship that detonated took untold lives with it — iron hulls turned to ash, human bones turned to smoke, rivers of blood ran dry.
By the time Ye Fan had concealed himself, the battle was drawing to a close. The final confrontation was decided when the two holy-grade warships settled their victor, bringing the curtain down.
One silver warship was damaged beyond recognition. The other holy vessel shimmered with violet light — immaculate, glowing, completely intact — and captured the enemy’s flagship, beginning to plunder it.
Total annihilation!
The defeated side still had a dozen or so warships fleeing for their lives, but escape proved difficult. With a thunderous boom, a silver spacecraft three hundred zhang in length was reduced to flame, its energy waves sweeping across the area.
Tsst — tsst…
Beam after beam of light fired like a meteor shower, sweeping toward the fleeing ships. Seven or eight more exploded in quick succession, becoming terrifying balls of light that spread across a vast area.
“Ha ha ha… What a bold move by the Immortal Feather family! On this distant expedition, they actually found the primary divine ingredient for refining the ultimate evolution elixir — the Destiny Rock! Others could search for several lifetimes and never find it!”
A crowd of people laughed from aboard the brilliantly violet warship. They boarded the damaged silver holy vessel and carried out a large grey chunk of rock, transferring it to their own holy artifact.
Ye Fan’s gaze fixed on it. He watched everything with perfect clarity. It was the same type of divine mineral rock he had seen back in the Northern Dipper, the kind that had been built into pools in which he had soaked and gained tremendous benefit.
“I really didn’t expect it — even the most radiant jewel of the Immortal Feather family, Princess Qi Meng, is here. The most celebrated beauty of the Eternal Realm is actually coming to visit our paradise.”
“Paradise” was the name of a band of interstellar pirates — one of the three most notorious plundering gangs in this star sea. They dared to strike against any major faction, for in addition to their holy-grade spacecraft, they had a true Ancient Saint watching over them.
This group moved freely through the starry void even without their ships, all of them powerful cultivators. They stripped the silver holy vessel of every rare mineral and precious ore it carried.
A young woman stepped out of the silver holy vessel. Starlight drifted down, falling upon her body, rendering the entire group of plunderers utterly still. Her beauty bordered on the surreal.
Ye Fan was too far away — his spacecraft concealed within a rain of meteorites — and could not make out the woman clearly. But he knew she had to be extraordinarily beautiful. Otherwise, those men would not have been left in a daze.
“Hmm. I’ve heard that tens of thousands of years ago, the Immortal Feather family produced someone with the Paramount Immortal Body, whose name shook all of eternity. He once unified the entire Eternal Realm. Seeing Miss Qi Meng now, I believe it. The blood of a divine being must still flow within your veins. I shall ask the ancient patriarch, Brahma Cloud, to arrange a union between you and me — a marriage alliance between our Immortal Feather family and us. The primary ingredients for refining the ultimate constitution evolution elixir are nearly all gathered. I believe that after our descendants are baptized by it, the Paramount Immortal Body will surely be reborn, supreme under the heavens!”
The red-haired young man carried a ferocious aura, yet one had to admit he was strikingly handsome. He flashed a mouthful of snow-white teeth, his manner carrying a kind of wicked, bewitching air.