The night sky was crisp and cold. A crescent moon hung high, competing in brilliance with a sky full of stars, their silver radiance cascading down in slender threads, stirring up layer upon layer of gossamer, fog-like halos of light throughout the ancient city.

Ye Fan sat upon the ridgeline of a roof, gazing up at the night sky. Long Ma had been right — suppressing his cultivation realm was growing increasingly difficult. He would need to choose an ancient star soon. The situation was grim, with dangers pressing in from all sides — achieving sainthood had become an urgent matter.

The city was deeply complicated. Powerful individuals who had come back from the depths of the ancient stellar paths were present within it, and most troubling of all, some of the major figures within the city itself harbored hidden intentions. He had good reason to believe that the soldiers stationed to guard the city could not be relied upon.

The only unknown was the Escort Envoy — that individual was the most critically important figure in this entire situation.

Cold crows called out in the distance, their cries all the more desolate in the frigid night air. Not far away, a river flowed past, running alongside this cluster of buildings.

Whoosh!

In an instant, Ye Fan vanished from the rooftop. A long spear in hand, he thrust it fiercely into the river below. With a great splash of water, he lifted a body from the depths — a figure that had been pierced through the crown of the skull. It was already dead.

None of the forces arrayed against him were the least bit benevolent. With the Source of the Dao on him, along with his ancient scriptures and other treasures, he had attracted the covetous eyes of no small number of people. There would be no peace for him from this point onward.

Perhaps the only way to truly resolve the threat was to cut down those who harbored ill intentions in a single sweeping slaughter.

In the latter half of the night, all was still and hushed — only starlight scattered silently across the sky. The city was tranquil. Atop a tall building in the distance, the Second Leader among the Thirteen Riders of Tianhuang held a great bow in hand. Nocked upon it was a war-lance of an arrow, with deeply carved blood grooves, dark red in color. Carved into the shaft were the characters for “Ye Fan,” droplets of fresh blood trickling down from them.

This was a forbidden weapon, enhanced by the power of a supreme expert. Within a certain range, it carried a terrifying, uncanny force that was nearly impossible to guard against.

He exerted every ounce of his strength and drew the great bow. Surges of dragon and tiger energy roiled forth. The blood-colored war-arrow blazed like a lance — razor-sharp and ice-cold — aimed directly at Ye Fan’s lodgings.

A strange screech rang out. The blood-colored war-arrow tore through the void, unstoppable as a collapsing mountain, and arrived in an instant.

At that very same moment, Ye Fan felt a chill ripple through his entire body. Threads of blood-patterns flickered faintly at the center of his brow — as though his Immortal Platform were on the verge of shattering, a sensation of icy pain spreading through it.

The feeling was uncannily similar to the time he had faced the Ruler of the Mountain of Sovereign Might, when that opponent had unleashed a strange and bizarre forbidden technique — leaving his spirit and mind deeply unsettled. In this instant, Ye Fan’s body curved into the shape of a dragon, tracing a golden arc of Tai Chi, as he simultaneously called forth his divine phenomenon and launched himself skyward in a single explosive movement.

At the same time, he brought forth the Cauldron of the Mother Qi of All Things. With a resounding clang, it met the blood-colored war-arrow head-on and released a deafening thunderclap that shook the heavens.

Crack!

The blood-colored war-arrow shattered inch by inch, then exploded outward with tremendous force. A vast surge of energy spread through the sky above, alarming every person within the massive city that stretched for hundreds of li in every direction.

The ancient city had its own restrictive formations in place — yet even so, a tear had been ripped through the heavens. The starlight of the cosmos came flooding in, and a ferocious hurricane screamed as it poured out into the dark void of the stellar expanse.

Fortunately, powerful individuals acted immediately to repair the formations, otherwise the consequences would have been too terrible to imagine.

“What happened? What is going on?” The powerful cultivators throughout the entire city had all felt a bone-deep, hair-raising sensation just moments before.

On the upper level of a tall building, a flash of light and shadow — and the Second Leader of the Thirteen Riders of Tianhuang vanished from where he had been standing, reappearing in another manor. He had left the scene.

Ye Fan’s gaze turned cold. He was the first to charge up to the top of that high tower, but regrettably, he had arrived just a step too late and failed to block his enemy’s escape.

Within a magnificently appointed great hall — ornate carvings adorning the beams and pillars, divine candles as thick as a man’s arm burning brilliantly to illuminate the entire space — the Second Leader of the Thirteen Riders of Tianhuang said, “That arrow truly possessed extraordinary and devastating power. It is a pity that it still was not enough to kill him.”

Yan Chifeng’s brow furrowed. He asked in a serious tone: “How did he break it? You must understand — that arrow could effortlessly annihilate a powerful ancient saint with thousands of years of cultivation.”

“The cauldron forged from the source root of the Mother Qi of All Things intercepted it,” the Second Leader of the Thirteen Riders of Tianhuang replied. Though he had only intended to stir up chaos rather than counting on a single strike to achieve a kill, he still felt a pang of regret. “The arrow shattered inch by inch.”

“That explains it,” Yan Chifeng said. “In the days when this arrow was being forged, it consumed countless divine materials of heaven and earth. It was secretly inscribed with thousands of words of curse-text, granting it a supreme divine power capable of breaking through ten thousand techniques. It can slay saints in an instant. Its one and only weakness is that it cannot penetrate something solid that stands in its way.” This arrow had been his mysterious great-ancestor’s supreme treasure bequeathed to him as a life-saving measure.

This arrow could break through ten thousand techniques, suppress every conceivable divine art, and easily sever an enemy’s primordial spirit — yet it fell short when faced with a purely physical barrier.

The Second Leader of the Thirteen Riders of Tianhuang had witnessed Ye Fan’s golden circle and the hazy outline of his divine phenomenon, and had vaguely sensed that even without the cauldron, it would likely have been difficult to injure him. But he said nothing of this. His sole purpose had been to drive more enemies toward Ye Fan.

Boom!

In the latter half of the night, another great explosion rang out. A massive purple-gold hammer descended from the sky, smashing Ye Fan’s lodgings into flying ash. Sacred energy drifted in wisps through the air.

Ye Fan stood in the sky, his face darkening. He made up his mind to take the initiative — to launch a killing spree before the night was over.

He knew well enough which forces intended to do him harm. There was no need for evidence at this point. The appropriate response was simply to cut them all down.

However, the Grand Commander appeared at just that moment, forcing Ye Fan to stay his hand and abandon his plan.

“The city is not particularly peaceful at the moment,” Yu Han said. “I hope you will exercise some restraint.”

Ye Fan said nothing. Still as the depths of an abyss, he descended to a green stone beside the river and closed his eyes in meditation.

Morning came. Dawn light broke across the sky, and a new day arrived full of vigor and energy. The tumult of the previous night had left no visible ripple in the city’s bustling life — not a single disturbance had been stirred.

Gong—

The great bell rang out, deep and resonant. The Escort Envoy finally made an appearance. It was as though he had sensed something — unwilling to let these individuals rest any longer, he intended to open the Primordial Trial Ground without delay.

The trial takers who had set out upon the ancient stellar paths were, to a person, high-spirited and bursting with energy. No one wanted to miss this. They had all been waiting for this moment.

“Yan Chifeng is entering as well,” someone among the city’s original inhabitants murmured. “He has entered many times over the years and reaped enormous benefits from it.”

A group of powerful beasts came thundering through the air, galloping across the sky at an altitude of more than ten zhang above the ground, arriving in a roiling rush.

Besides Yan Chifeng, there were also the sons and daughters of several major factions within the city. Though their presence was not entirely in keeping with the rules, the city’s own children were typically allowed in with a blind eye turned.

Imperial Heaven’s people had also arrived. Several elderly men stood at the edge of the crowd, their eyes resting on Ye Fan with a chill edge, before shifting to glance at the Grand Commander not far away.

Ku Toutuo, Tuoba Yu, Ouye Mo, and the others stood in their separate groups, faces expressionless, waiting for the Primordial Dao Ground to open — there to temper themselves.

In the distance, Guan Cheng walked over. He and the Second Leader of the Thirteen Riders of Tianhuang made their way together toward the young generation from Yan Chifeng’s group.

Right there in the plaza of the ancient city, twelve gateways appeared out of thin air, leading into a vast primordial trial ground. The divine gates blazed with radiance, and the space within resembled nothing less than an immortal domain.

“Mm. Do your utmost and temper yourselves well. In years past, there were those who found extraordinary fortune in this place, and their names now shake the entire ancient path — figures such as the Exiled Immortal and the Great Demon God were both said to have gained profound enlightenment here.”

The Escort Envoy spoke these words, and as he did, he glanced in the direction of Immortal Maiden Qingshi, who stood nearby.

Guan Cheng stood in place. He clenched his fist with great force until his knuckles turned faintly blue — because the words had stirred the memory of another name, one that could shake the very heavens and earth to their foundations. For many who had lived through that time, it was a name that represented something like a forbidden taboo.

He remembered it clearly from those days. A lone rider on horseback, galloping through the open sky, who had pinned him to the ground — man and mount together — with a single thrust of his spear, leaving him drenched in blood. What breathtaking arrogance that had been. What raw and untamed pride.

That person had swept undefeated across the star-filled ancient paths. Years ago, word had spread that he had been surrounded and hunted by numerous powerhouses deep in the stellar expanse, had fought through the night, and had destroyed an entire stretch of the stellar path — sending shockwaves through the vast and boundless ancient domain.

All these years had passed, and even now Guan Cheng still felt, when he thought of him, as though some primordial, savage beast had fixed its eyes upon him. Every hair on his body would stand on end. It was an emotion impossible to put into words — a suffocating, crushing weight.

That person remained undefeated to this day, charging forward at the very forefront of the ancient stellar paths with nothing able to stop him. Those who could truly match him in battle were genuinely very few.

It was right here, in this very Primordial Dao Ground, that the person had once broken through the restrictions of the trial ground and charged outward into the domain beyond, alone and unassisted — witnessed only by Guan Cheng, with even the Escort Envoy unaware. The commanding, overwhelming silhouette he had cut in that moment still left Guan Cheng chilled to the bone whenever he recalled it.

Returning to this place now, that cold and ruthless young supreme immediately came to mind, and his fist clenched of its own accord.

On that day, when Guan Cheng had seen Ye Fan ride into the city alone and kill the golden-winged Roc of the middle-aged Daoist nun with a single thrust of his spear, it had called to mind his own experience — being similarly run through by a spear, blood pouring freely. The sight had triggered something raw within him, and for no rational reason, with no choice in the matter, he had come to hate Ye Fan. And so the conflict between them had followed.

More than ten years of cultivation had seen him rebuild his conviction, his strength rising dramatically. And so he had set out upon the ancient path again, starting over from the very first trial.

Yet now, standing here, he felt hesitant again. The memory of that person’s overwhelming presence had crept back unbidden, and his body felt faintly cold.

Guan Cheng looked at Ye Fan in the glow of the morning light and sensed something similar — a certain quality he recognized. He murmured to himself, “What I fear and hate is this quality of being invincible.”

The twelve gateways opened. Trial takers streamed into the Primordial Dao Ground, and the sons and daughters of various major factions followed them in. The Escort Envoy, the Grand Commander, and the soldiers stationed nearby made no move to stop them.

The divine gates slowly closed behind the last of them.

Within lay a vast and boundless land, immense in every direction. Countless ancient beasts roared and cried out — primordial breeds from an era long past, long since extinct in the outside world, yet somehow still thriving here.

Several golden crows cut across the sky, leaving trailing streamers of fire in their wake. A Dragon Sparrow spread its wings and seized an entire mountain range in its talons, carrying it away to use as a nesting site, blotting out the sun and sky, monstrous in its power.

After entering, Ye Fan closed his eyes and walked forward one step at a time, allowing himself to feel the immense and sweeping energy of this place. There was a sense of infinite, inexhaustible power surging all around him.

The Dao of Force!

The force of time, the force of space, the force of heaven and earth, the force of all things… however many methods existed, however many systems of Dao one might follow, none of them could be separated from force. It was contained within everything.

Ye Fan felt that this world drew him in on a deep and natural level. His blood and vital energy blazed and surged. Within his body, it was as though thunder rolled — radiating the most supreme battle power. The earth beneath him made his sacred blood seethe and crash like ocean waves.

He was of the Human Holy Body — his physical form without equal, his strength without limit. Coming to a place like this, it was natural and inevitable that he would merge into the atmosphere as though he had always belonged here.

Ye Fan walked on foot, measuring out every inch of earth. With his eyes closed, he immersed himself in the natural world, capturing the Dao of Force. His blood and vital energy rolled and boiled within him, like a great mountain in motion, pressing down on the ancient earth until it rumbled and groaned as though it might sink beneath his weight.

In the end, he was like a star. Every time he moved, heaven and earth resonated in response. Endless principles and laws wove themselves around him, countless chains of divine order intersecting in all directions and piercing through the mountains and rivers.

Brilliant chains of divine light wove alongside his physical body, making him radiant and dazzling to behold. He was like an immortal phoenix within an immortal domain, undergoing a baptism by fire and emerging reborn.

In this world, countless fierce beasts and savage birds trembled. Even sacred beasts that crossed his path gave him a wide berth, keeping their distance.

Ye Fan felt a powerful impulse — to tear open this landscape, break through the restrictions, transcend this place, and rush out beyond the trial ground to see what world lay on the other side.

“There is still time. I will absorb all of this slowly.”

Ye Fan did not act rashly. He immersed himself in comprehension for half a month. Then he opened his eyes. Golden electricity tore through the void, and he felt as though his entire body was brimming with energy — as if he could pluck the stars from the sky with a single reach.