Ye Fan, Ji Zi, and the Holy Prince worked in perfect coordination, fighting as one to reduce an ancient saint of Huo Lin Cave’s headless body to shreds — transforming him into a mist of blood.

The Dao resounded and rang forth. Between Ji Zi’s hands, primordial void energy appeared — curtains of light rippled outward like water, forming the cycle of life and death at that very spot, binding the severed head and preventing the soul within from escaping.

Hiss!

The five-colored divine light appeared once more behind Ye Fan. The five precious swords swung downward in a slashing arc, splitting the saint’s head apart. Glistening white bone fragments and sacred blood splattered outward as the soul cried out in terror.

The Holy Prince let out a long howl. The golden fur all over his body stood on end, brilliant and crystalline. With the Nine-Cycle Heavenly Art in full motion — fierce, domineering, and overwhelming — cracks spread densely across that soul, as it was on the verge of dissolution.

“No!”

Huo Yunsheng cried out. He had never imagined that, as an ancient saint, he would be defeated by three Dao-severing practitioners. Now his life would soon be extinguished — he was about to vanish into nothingness.

“Leave him alive — exchange him for the Water Marrow Mother Stone.” Ye Fan stopped the Holy Prince.

The Holy Prince considered it for a moment. He too did not wish to completely sever ties with an ancient royal lineage. Huo Lin Cave’s depths were unfathomable — it was the lineage of an ancient emperor, with a powerful bloodline force, capable of looking down upon all the primordial ages in its time, and still able to lord over all under heaven today.

Huo Qizi’s fury ignited when he saw the ancient saint’s soul sent back to him, his eyebrows shooting upward, his long blue hair flying wildly. Within his tall, powerful body flowed the blood of an ancient emperor, producing sounds like rolling thunder.

Even for an ancient royal lineage, saints were their most powerful combat force — indispensable. Yet a Water Marrow Mother Stone had been exchanged for a saint whose soul had very nearly been extinguished.

Huo Qizi could not swallow this humiliation. With one palm, he shattered an entire tea table, causing Huo Lin Cave to erupt in brilliant radiance and auspicious energy in ten thousand streams, flooding the entire ancient imperial clan’s sacred ground.

“What are you doing?” Huo Lin’er appeared. Her long water-blue hair reached her waist, lustrous as a mirror. Her figure was graceful and willowy — bright eyes, white teeth, slender and lively as an immortal.

“I intend to challenge that monkey to a decisive battle and settle the question of superiority once and for all.” Huo Qizi said. He harbored a knot in his heart going back to that battle years ago when the Heavenly Prince had been killed — he had never accepted it, and to this day could not let it go.

Huo Lin’er warned him: “The Fighting Saint Buddha is nearing final seated meditation, with only a few more years to live. Provoking that monkey at this time is not worth it. Should the old Saint Ape, in the final moments before his death, go mad and decide to clear every obstacle from his nephew’s path, even our clan may not be able to withstand it.”

“I can provoke him into a fair one-on-one battle that will unravel the knot in my heart — and cut down his arrogance.” Huo Qizi said. His eyes blazed like a pair of divine lamps, dazzling and awe-inspiring, his aura mighty as a mountain range, making even the half-saints within the ancient cave tremble.

Huo Lin’er opposed it: “Do not do these things. We will use the captured mother ship to journey beyond the domain, travel once to the Eternal Main Star, and then proceed to our clan’s true ancestral land. There we can forge ourselves into the strongest under the starry sky!”

The Northern Dipper Star Domain was far from peaceful — sacred traces were manifesting beyond the domain for the sake of the road to immortality, and turbulent winds stirred throughout the land.

The reverberations of the Eternal Main Star expedition had not yet faded, only growing more intense. Now, the most powerful ancient royal lineages, in addition to preparing to march beyond the domain and attack the Eternal realm, were also discussing the most powerful evolution fluid.

In the past few days, undercurrents had surged, and many royal lineages had learned of it. All were competing for divine mineral materials and stockpiling resources.

Even the incident of Huo Lin Cave losing an ancient saint to a killing had become known to others — a disturbance set off by the evolution fluid that could not be easily calmed.

“The most powerful evolution fluid — such a thing truly exists. It is absolutely heaven-defying. We must obtain it!”

“Those insignificant beings appear frail, only knowing how to rely on external objects. Yet even they have their remarkable qualities — a precious fluid that promotes bloodline evolution. It is truly extraordinary. We must obtain it.”

“March to the Eternal realm — seize their evolution fluid for our own use!”

The ten thousand ancient races were in heated debate, each one excited, simultaneously preparing for a distant expedition while beginning to gather divine mineral materials. The entire world was now in motion because of this matter.

It was a state of chaos!

Even before the expedition launched — before the great war had begun — the turmoil surrounding the evolution fluid had already begun to spread throughout the Northern Dipper Star Domain.

All the races were in ferment and could no longer remain calm. Various conflicts broke out repeatedly, all driven by competition for resources.

Over the following half month, there were intermittent instances of bloodshed and military conflict. Fortunately, everything remained within a controllable range and did not escalate into a full-blown storm.

Now, at every major auction house, all valuable mineral materials had reached astronomical prices, and few were willing to sell — every side was hoarding.

Unfortunately, the truly valuable items were nearly exhausted. Ye Fan’s group had seized the initiative, and the other great factions who had moved to follow suit had all been too late.

Several essential divine supplementary materials were indispensable — none could be absent. Among them, the Water Marrow Mother Stone, lost and then recovered, allowed everyone in Heaven’s Village to breathe a collective sigh of relief. As for the Fire Divine Stone, Ye Fan had it on his person — a piece of fire-red jade-like stone, obtained along the Ancient Starry Road alongside the Heart of the Dead Realm.

The critical Earth Dragon Essence had also seen progress. Wang Shu, Er Lengzi, and Zhang Fifth Master had been traversing the ten thousand mountains for days, tracing dragon veins and reading the energy of the earth.

Zhang Fifth Master was a descendant of a Source Heavenly Master. It was through his guidance that Ye Fan had obtained the Source Heavenly Book, though Ye Fan had since returned the book to the Zhang Family.

As for Wang Shu and Er Lengzi, known as the Silver Blood Twin Emperors, they were the founding core of the Ore Sect that Ye Fan had established in his youth. Over the years, the Black Emperor had drilled them to the Dao-severing realm.

Flowing within them was the blood of the ancient silver bloodline. In their time, that lineage had been called the Uncrowned Emperors, possessing terrifying power. Now that potential was reawakening within them.

“Zhang Grandfather and the others have run into trouble.”

Gu Fei and Gu Lin, the sibling pair — inheritors of the Divine Reckoner’s tradition, like Ye Tong and Little Sparrow — were the hope of the Heavenly Court’s younger generation.

The two were currently powerless against saints, but they could perform divination upon others, though only at a basic level — limited to matters of safety and similar concerns.

Upon learning of this, Ye Fan immediately stepped through a domain gate and vanished in an instant.

He was naturally unwilling to let anything happen to those people, and with the Earth Dragon Essence close to being located, they were on the very verge of being able to refine the evolution fluid. At this critical moment, nothing could go wrong.

This was a barren and desolate stretch of mountains — not a blade of grass grew, the terrain rugged, the land harsh and infertile. It was in this desolate place that Zhang Fifth Master’s group had detected traces of the Earth Dragon Essence’s energy.

“Correct — it is right here. Beneath this stretch of land there should be Earth Dragon Essence.” Ye Fan nodded silently. In the present age, he was the foremost practitioner of source arts in all under heaven.

Not only had Zhang Fifth Master’s group located this place — so had others in the source arts field. Several source arts sects from the Northern Region had also arrived, and trailing behind them were some ancient clans.

It was easy to imagine what degree of competition for divine mineral materials the past many days had reached — to the point where ancient clans had gone so far as to employ human source arts families.

Zhang Fifth Master and the “Silver Blood Twin Emperors” had been cornered in a mountain valley. Had it not been for the sufficiently powerful bloodlines of the Uncrowned Emperors within them, they would most likely have already come under attack.

“Has the human race’s Holy Body, Ye Fan, returned?”

The Chaos Mixing Clan was among the ten most powerful ancient royal lineages of antiquity — not one of the ten great fierce clans, but one of the true ten greatest royal lineages beyond the imperial clans.

They had not suffered damage in the recent great battle, but had seized some warships and learned a great deal of real information, coming to fully understand the secret of the evolution fluid.

In the days just past, they had dispatched three half-saints to lead a group, employing the source arts family’s people to search for divine mineral materials — and here they had intercepted Zhang Fifth Master’s group.

“If you do not tell us, none of you will leave this place alive today. You can only perish here, and no one will be able to save you!”

“Speak quickly — has the human race’s Holy Body returned? What secrets did he bring back? Are you waiting for us to search your souls?”

The Silver Blood Twin Emperors protected Zhang Fifth Master as they backed away, showing no sign of fear. They carried formation platforms gifted by the Black Emperor, and breaking through and protecting themselves was not a problem.

Boom!

Suddenly, source energy within the earth veins boiled, transforming into towering swords of energy that surged skyward, exploding directly among the ancient clansmen. Blood and flesh flew in all directions — a great many were killed on the spot.

Ye Fan strode forward, his true form appearing. A group of ancient clansmen stumbled backward in alarm — a man’s reputation spreads like a tree’s shadow. One name was enough to make an entire group go pale.

“You truly did return?!” The three half-saints retreated, their scalps prickling, every hair standing on end, goosebumps rising across their skin.

Ye Fan — who in all the Northern Dipper did not know him? Fearless before all ancient clans, he had even slaughtered the Heavenly Prince, annihilated the Eight Division Divine Generals. Everything he had done was terrifying beyond imagination.

“Run!” The three half-saints’ faces were drained of all color as they fled into the distance. The others scattered in every direction.

Yet it was all too late. Ye Fan deployed his source arts. This mountain range contained an immense amount of source energy, all at his command — immediately transforming the area into a blood-red battlefield.

No one could escape. With source arts reaching the heavens, Ye Fan deployed source art forbidden techniques, sweeping across all four directions within this location. The three half-saints one by one exploded into ruin and died.

“Earth Dragon Essence!”

Half an hour later, Zhang Fifth Master trembled with excitement — never having imagined that in his lifetime he would personally excavate such a thing. From beneath a great block of divine source, he extracted a stone egg, warm and lustrous throughout, containing powerful vital energy within.

Ye Fan was seeing it for the first time as well. It was a rare object born of divine source, with the earth’s essence and life energy condensed together, forming an egg-like shape, known as Earth Dragon Essence.

It nurtured an immense abundance of life’s quintessence!

“Powerful earth-nature essence energy — a true gift of fortune. Those in the underground cavern, come out. Whatever your origins, offer up the Earth Dragon Essence and you will be spared death. Otherwise, you will leave behind nothing but bones.” An arrogant and self-important voice rang out.

A group of people had positioned themselves among the mountain ridges, blocking the exit of the underground cavern.

“Robbing from me directly.” Ye Fan gave a cold laugh.

This alone illustrated how violently the undercurrents were surging and to what degree competition for divine mineral materials had reached.

“Who are you people?” The Silver Blood Twin Emperors stepped out first.

“The Origin Royal Clan!” A young man spoke with proud indifference, his complexion pale and fair, barely distinguishable from the human race except for a divine halo behind his head.

Ye Fan’s heart stirred. He had once heard the Holy Prince speak of it: among all lineages outside the ancient imperial clans, the Origin Royal Clan was said to be the most powerful of the ten great royal lineages in the present age — surpassing even the Chaos Mixing Clan, the Great Strength Divine Bull Demon Royal Clan, and others by a considerable margin.

“Offer up your Earth Dragon Essence, kneel to one side, and we will spare your lives.” The young man said.

The group behind him shouted in unison, their divine voices shaking the air, each one of them with a divine halo behind their head, dazzling and radiant.

“I thought it might be the Sovereign of the Phoenix Void Dao, Huo Qizi, or the Dragon Maiden of the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest who had come.” Ye Fan supported Zhang Fifth Master and walked out, sweeping them with a light gaze.

“You are… the human race’s Holy Body Ye Fan. You have truly… returned!” The young man’s color changed on the spot. He was indeed powerful — said to be one of the most outstanding figures outside the ancient princes. But at this moment his face had turned ashen with shock and fear.

“That is correct — it is I. Was it you who told me to kneel?” Ye Fan asked.

“No — there has been a misunderstanding here. I believed it was my rival who was present.” The young man of the Origin Royal Clan said in a trembling voice. He turned and fled at the first opportunity, the others following in swift retreat.

They understood clearly — this was a star of death. Even ancient princes had been cut down without mercy, let alone the offspring of what were called the ten great royal lineages.

Thud!

Blood blotted out the sun. Ye Fan unleashed his source arts, and all of them were engulfed. Vast billows of blood-red energy rose as screams rang out one after another.

In this place, with the underground dragon veins beneath him carrying endless source energy, Ye Fan was nearly invincible — capable of challenging saints in battle.

With the Earth Dragon Essence in hand, Ye Fan and his group returned to Heaven’s Village. Now only one critical supplementary material was still lacking — Wind Bone Wood.

After all the divine primary materials had been gathered, among the dozens upon dozens of supplementary materials, the Earth Dragon Essence, Fire Divine Stone, Wind Bone Wood, and Water Marrow Mother Stone were the four that could not be absent, representing the four divine natures of earth, fire, wind, and water.

Two days later, good news arrived. While Ye Tong was searching in the Central Region, the Wind Clan’s current Sacred Sovereign — Feng Huang — presented him with a piece of Wind Bone Wood as a gift.

This gave Ye Fan pause for thought. He nodded quietly, saying nothing more. Now, with all manner of divine materials gathered at last, the time had finally come to refine the evolution fluid.

“Our materials are well-supplied, and the quantities of primary materials such as the Primordial Destiny Stone, Heart of the Dead Realm, and Heavenly Fate Divine Rock are very large. The precious fluid to be extracted should be more than sufficient for everyone!”