Not only was Ye Fan left speechless — Ji Zi and the Holy Prince were the same. All of them stood there in a mild daze. The Black Emperor raising a ruckus here, having stumbled into a massive trap — it was truly beyond words.

That unreliable dog had ended up losing itself in the depths of the cosmos. They had assumed it might be untold years before they would ever see it again — yet here it had appeared.

It was caught in the Quasi-Emperor formation. Within that zone, another kind of Dao principle surged up — even more ferocious and powerful, the killing intent stretching across the ages!

The Beginningless Killing Formation. This was no longer a matter of a single corner. There were one or two corners more than before, which was nothing short of miraculous.

According to legend, apart from the great emperors of antiquity, no one could fathom its true essence or lay it down. A single corner was likely the absolute limit — crossing beyond that threshold was nearly impossible.

The Black Emperor had spent its entire existence immersed in this art, not in vain despite constantly causing those around it to vanish or go missing — and finally causing itself to disappear as well. In the end, it had truly achieved a breakthrough.

It was precisely because it had laid down two-plus corners of the Beginningless Killing Formation that the existing formation markings ahead had been shattered into disarray, blocking the killing intent and preventing the Black Emperor from perishing.

“Woof! You dead snake! Woof! What the hell!” The Black Emperor, trapped in the formation, kept up an endless stream of the most vivid curses, raging without pause.

Though the Quasi-Emperor killing formation could not compare to a true imperial formation, it was fairly complete and could unleash tremendous power.

The Beginningless Imperial Formation, however, was limited to two corners. That didn’t mean it could only unleash twenty percent of its power — with each additional corner, the power multiplied many times over, or even several times. So what two corners could actually produce was genuinely difficult to say.

“How did it end up being caught here? The elder Soaring Snake doesn’t seem to be present — otherwise it would have been struck by the Quasi-Emperor weapon long ago,” the Holy Prince said, knowing that ruthless snake better than anyone.

“Black Emperor!” Ye Fan roared, his voice rolling out like an ocean into the formation zone. The mountains shook. Immediately, a swarm of Soaring Snakes appeared — golden-scaled all over — watching from a distance.

The monkey erupted in fury. These serpents were controlling the formation markings. Standing outside the formation, he threw out a palm strike that sent this group of powerful figures screaming in agony as they died or were wounded in droves.

Of course, many more Soaring Snakes were hidden within the formation, where nothing could be done to them.

Within the great formation, the Black Emperor’s cursing fell silent. It went still, standing with both large ears pointed straight up, peering suspiciously toward the outside of the formation — though the dense mist made it impossible to see through.

“Black Emperor — have you been slaughtered?” Ye Fan called out loudly.

“You dead snake, you know quite a lot — how dare you impersonate that cursed brat to try and trick me! Your Black Grandfather isn’t falling for it!” The Black Emperor grumbled and growled.

Ye Fan felt a headache coming on. He had come here of all places to run into this dog, wanted to intervene and rescue it, and had instead been cursed at before he could say a word. He called out sharply: “It’s me, not some Soaring Snake. Black Emperor, I’ve brought you a companion — a large wolfhound of noble bloodline.”

Inside the formation, silence reigned for quite a long while. Then a thunderclap-like roar erupted: “Your granddad’s! You’re really you, you bastard — hurry up and rescue this Emperor out of here!”

“Don’t you have an imperial formation? Hit it a few more times and come on out,” Ye Fan said.

“There’s no time — that cursed old snake is coming back! Hurry up and act!” the Black Emperor called out anxiously.

Ye Fan, Ji Zi, and the Holy Prince dared not delay upon hearing that. In the elder Soaring Snake’s home domain, a moment of carelessness could mean disaster. Better to rescue the big black dog first — that was the safest approach.

The formation markings in this zone had already been cracked and damaged by the Black Emperor’s assault, and now with three imperial weapons hammering away at it, the whole thing rapidly disintegrated. Against such world-shaking divine might, it simply couldn’t hold.

Out came a large dog, as powerfully built as a bull, with sleek black fur that shone like silk. Broad-headed and large-eared, with eyes like copper bells — a specimen of exceptional quality.

It bared its teeth in a grin. Upon seeing the three of them, its eyeballs nearly popped out of its head — and when its gaze fixed on the killing sword in Ye Fan’s hand, it nearly started drooling.

“This Emperor has truly missed you all to death!”

It transformed into a black whirlwind and launched itself forward — a textbook vicious dog leap — barreling straight toward Ye Fan. Under the noble guise of a joyful reunion between old friends, it flew directly at him. In truth, it was going for the killing sword. Both large paws seized it and refused to let go, shamelessly crying out: “Let me have a look at it!”

Ye Fan naturally refused. Letting this dog have a look would be like a meat bun hitting a dog — gone without return.

“Just one look!” the Black Emperor persisted with shameless tenacity, hugging the killing sword and refusing to release its paws. Broad-headed and large-eared, it wore an expression of simple honesty.

It had self-awareness. Whether the Void Mirror or the iron staff left behind by the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, both were bound by bloodline inheritance — even if shoved into its paws, it couldn’t wield them.

The killing sword was different. This imperial weapon clearly had no particular connection to Ye Fan — he had seized it from someone else.

“You haven’t asked about everything we’ve been through all these years the moment we meet again. You jumped straight into trying to rob us — did a dog eat your conscience?” Ye Fan pried at its large paws.

“Damn it, watch how you talk!” the Black Emperor said indignantly. “Is this Emperor the kind of person who would do that? Absolutely not. Would this Emperor do such a thing? Never. I’ve long since heard of your great fame on the ancient road — why would I need to ask?”

With a grinding chomp, it bit down on Ye Fan’s palm and refused to let go, howling: “Just let me hold it for a bit!”

The rivers may change — nature never does.

Ye Fan had become a great sage, and now his flesh and blood were among the toughest in the cosmos, so naturally the bite drew no blood. Yet his expression changed — the big black dog had not been injured by the imperial weapon at all. It had grabbed the killing sword without any damage whatsoever. One had to know that it had taken Ye Fan many long years of tempering before he could hold this sword in his hand.

In that brief moment of distraction, the killing sword was bitten and clawed right out of his grasp and into the big black dog’s paw. Its mouth split into a grin stretching to its ears, and it laughed without stopping.

“How can you withstand the killing energy of an immortal sword?”

“I’ve been studying this killing formation for a century or two. I’m nearly merging with the primordial source of killing energy between heaven and earth — this sword was born for me,” it declared without the slightest shame.

Obviously, it was talking complete rubbish. There must be something on its body capable of suppressing the killing energy.

“Let’s not talk about that for now. We go to the outer region to ambush the old snake when he returns. His grandmother’s — how dare he trap this Emperor, I’ll flay his skin and dig out his bones!” The Black Emperor seething with anger — though it was impossible to tell whether it was changing the subject or was genuinely furious.

“How did you end up here?” Ye Fan asked.

“Forget it for now, let’s get out of here quickly. I truly want to kill this old snake — he ruined a great Dao fruit I was about to obtain,” the Black Emperor said, growing agitated.

“What exactly happened?” the Holy Prince asked.

The big black dog let out a long sigh. “I was journeying through the cosmos,” it said, “when I discovered a mass of imperial original source left behind after an ancient great emperor sat in stillness to perish. It was almost in my grasp — and then, damn it all, it flew away!”

At last, the truth came out. It had witnessed a mass of great emperor original source, illuminating the wilderness at the edge of the cosmos. The Black Emperor had nearly gone faint from excitement. With the utmost care it had moved in close, managed to absorb just a small piece — and then the immortal treasure flew away.

The three of them were profoundly shaken. What kind of heaven-defying fortune would that have been?!

Ancient great emperor corpses were exceedingly rare throughout all of history — let alone anything left behind after a great emperor sat in stillness to perish. For all of history, almost no one had ever obtained such a thing. When an emperor’s body dissolved into the Dao, it became tribulation dust. Anything that could remain behind would absolutely defy the heavens.

Imperial Original Source — this thing had no right to exist in the world, yet remnants of it had lingered in the wilderness at the edge of the cosmos. Truly shocking enough to leave anyone thunderstruck.

In an instant, they understood why the Black Emperor had no fear of the killing sword. Fused into one of its large paws was a small piece of the imperial original source — naturally it could block any killing energy.

“I used every last ounce of strength I had and chased after it all the way across the cosmos. Damn it all — I ran headlong into this star, got trapped by that old snake, and he went chasing it in my place.” The Black Emperor slammed the ground in rage, hating everything.

“Done venting?” Ye Fan extended his hand. “Now give the killing sword back.”

“What kind of relationship do we have? Life-and-death companions. Friends who’ve staked everything for each other. These are just worldly possessions — what’s yours is mine!” The big black dog stood its ground without shame.

“Then give me a piece of the imperial original source,” Ye Fan said, extending his hand.

“There’s only one piece, and it already fused itself to my divine paw — I expect we’ll be inseparable for the rest of our lives,” it said, its shamelessness as solid as a city wall.

Then it turned and bolted toward a great mountain in the distance — the sacred ground of the Soaring Snake lineage. There, a shed snake skin coiled around the mountainside gleamed with golden radiance.

This was undoubtedly an extraordinary divine material — a skin shed by the elder Soaring Snake himself, tough and imperishable.

The Black Emperor said nothing at all. Using the killing sword, it carefully cut the skin into pieces and rapidly refined them into a golden snake-skin pair of large underpants. In just a few strokes, it pulled them on, replacing the original large flower-patterned underpants it had been wearing. Then it stood upright, clasped both paws behind its back, and announced: “Passable, I suppose. Consider this a small repayment.”

Good grief!

Ye Fan nearly spat out that expression he had almost forgotten over two hundred years.

Even Ji Zi — normally so silent and composed — was briefly dumbstruck. The Black Emperor called this a small repayment: the elder Soaring Snake would rage enough to vomit blood if he saw this — his own skin being made into underpants. What a vile creature. What a thoroughly rotten scheme.

The Holy Prince was speechless as well — though he had to admit it did feel somewhat satisfying.

“A person cannot be too vile — a dog cannot be too Black Emperor,” Ye Fan said.

The big black dog, wearing its golden underpants, stood upright and paced back and forth. One large paw held the killing sword aloft. “Enough of that — let’s get to the outer region quickly and ambush the old snake. When he comes back, we’ll cut him down until every bone is broken and every tendon is severed.”

Everyone nodded. The matter was of grave importance. If the elder Soaring Snake obtained the remaining original source of an ancient great emperor and went into seclusion to refine it into himself, it was possible he might truly break through to Quasi-Emperor level — and at that point it would be a catastrophe!

On this star, though many Soaring Snake experts remained, not one dared to obstruct them. None of them were a match for the group. With this many imperial weapons in hand, if they were all unleashed at once, this star could be shattered to dust.

They went directly to the outer region and waited in stillness for the elder Soaring Snake to return, intending to cut him down and drive him into absolute ruin.

“Ah, right — Ye boy, where did you disappear to all these years? Why has there been no news from you at all? And Ji Zi, Holy Prince — the two of you kept yourself hidden all this time too. This Emperor was actually thinking of coming to find you all,” the Black Emperor said.

All three of them wanted to pummel it. Together they looked upon it with utter contempt.

“You shameless, greedy, vile dog — didn’t you just say you had long since heard of our great fame on the ancient road? That’s why you didn’t ask the moment we met. And in the end, it was just because you saw the treasure and lost your mind.”

“The old snake is coming back — forget this useless talk, let’s hurry up and butcher this big one!” The Black Emperor’s eyes sharpened. Then it gnashed its teeth, stood upright, raised the killing sword, and went into hiding.

Ye Fan brought out the green copper cauldron. Ji Zi and the Holy Prince also made their preparations. They were going to execute the elder Soaring Snake.