Those pillars of light — each one as massive as a mountain, rising to pierce the nine heavens and reaching down to the nine depths — blazed with radiant splendor, their auras boundless, as though supreme divine beings were descending to press down upon the mortal world.

“They’ve come. Finally they’ve come!” Many people cried out across the grey expanse, as a great crowd that had gathered outside the battlefield looked on.

At that moment, people without exception fell back. A genuine, gut-deep dread overtook them. The aura was simply too overwhelming. For many of them, these supreme beings were like true gods reborn.

“These are ‘Divine Ones’ from beyond the heavens. Every single one of them has the power to look down on the world. No one can fathom how they cultivated to such heights — much less why, after so many ages, they continue to come to the Immortal Ascension Battlefield for these great decisive battles.”

It was a question many people shared. The brilliant Golden Age of the outside world left them shaken; the radiance shed by those world-dominating figures was blinding beyond reckoning, the innumerable races and multitude of supreme powerhouses beyond counting.

Ye Fan’s eyes dimmed and returned to their subdued state. He stood outside the Immortal Ascension Battlefield and watched in silence, saying nothing more.

Young Bai Ye’s eyes were very bright, full of yearning. He stared fixedly at those pillars of light, burning with hope, dreaming of the day when he too might become someone so powerful.

The big-bearded man and the rest of his group were deeply shaken, but soon shook their heads. Those people were far, far removed from them — almost unreal.

Most of those great pillars of light were in different regions, separated from one another by vast distances. Gradually they began to fade, their radiance retracting inward.

“Their cultivated attainment has been severed — their power suppressed! Those people have been held in check!”

At this, people finally breathed a sigh of relief. Those people had been truly too powerful — one after another like divine beings — suffocating to behold, as though heavenly gods had descended to the mortal world.

Even now, faint traces of Great Dao auras still drifted and diffused — they had not truly been severed; in the end, the arrivals themselves had voluntarily reined it in.

“Some of them have not lost their cultivated attainment!”

This sent a chill through everyone. How powerful did one have to be for even the Immortal Ascension Battlefield’s suppression to fail to take effect? That such a thing was possible made one’s hair stand on end.

An older cultivator’s eyes flickered with a strange light, though not with excessive surprise, and he said: “Throughout history, there have always been a few who possess either a secret artifact or some special opportunity, allowing them to retain a portion of their cultivated attainment — they never lose all of their power.”

Moreover, these individuals would ultimately choose on their own to forgo using their arcane arts, and would not reveal their final trump card unless their lives depended on it — as though they were deliberately tempering themselves.

This was a battlefield. Once people arrived here, different factions from different regions would strive to slay each other’s peerless champions, as though a terrifying competition existed among them.

All the pillars of light had vanished. The people outside had no way of knowing what was happening in the depths of the Immortal Ascension Battlefield — after all, this region was too vast, surpassing even the Eastern Desolate lands Ye Fan had known of old. Only the rain of light fell, filling everything with mysterious atmosphere.

BOOM!

Without warning, hundreds of li away, boulders flew through the air and light blazed brilliantly — dozens more enormous pillars of light descended. Two of them were far too close. Before they had even stabilized, someone struck out in a killing blow, and direct combat broke out immediately.

Two beams crashed together. Fragments of the Great Dao exploded outward. Their cultivated attainment had not yet been severed when they struck this world-shaking blow — the impact naturally sent tremors through mountains and valleys for ten thousand li around.

Even the ground outside the battlefield shook. Enormous cracks spread across it, each one several zhang wide and utterly terrifying. Many mountain peaks rumbled and groaned, stone mountains split and collapsed, and clouds of dust billowed toward the sky.

The shock of that explosion left many people’s hearts cold. All of them fell back without exception.

A cry of anguish rang out. Some unknown race’s powerhouse — a colossal body suspended in the air, resembling a Firephoenix, wreathed head to toe in blazing flames, yet covered in crimson scales — let out a final shout before its body, stretching ten thousand zhang long, exploded with a tremendous crash.

A rain of blood erupted in all directions, reaching all the way to the outer edges of the battlefield. The wave it generated was apocalyptic in its terror.

“AHH—!”

People screamed. Some, unlucky enough to be drenched by the rain of blood, were immediately pierced through on the spot, and then the fragments of the Great Dao borne within that crimson blood stripped away every last thread of vitality in their bodies.

“To think a peak Great Sage has been slain like that — this is terrifying beyond words!”

Outside the battlefield, every face had gone white and bloodless. Just how powerful did one have to be to shatter a peerless supreme — one like a Firephoenix — in so brief a clash? It was staggering to the soul.

People fell back in droves. All of them chose to keep their distance. Even standing outside the Immortal Ascension Battlefield felt this unsafe — those inside were simply too powerful, each and every one of them like a divine being, their blood-energy shaking the heavens.

“ROARRR!”

In another region, roughly three hundred li away, two more supreme powers encountered each other. A humanoid being stepped out of its pillar of light in a single stride, its entire body veiled in mist, and plunged directly into another enormous pillar of light beside it — within which a colossal lion crouched, forged of living gold, taller than a mountain range. The two met, and the slaughter began in earnest.

“Pff—!”

In the end, the humanoid being was torn apart. The golden lion swallowed it whole in a single bite, and blood spattered everywhere, punching through the void.

Everyone present was left stunned and horrified. Just how powerful had that humanoid being been — for its blood, filled with Dao principle fragments, to pierce the void — certainly a supreme fighter of the highest order, yet it had ended up as another’s meal!

The radiance subsided. The lion, as massive as a mountain range, descended to the ground and vanished from the sky. Its cultivated attainment had clearly been severed.

And so it went — in one place after another, pillars of light rose to the heavens in brilliant splendor, like indestructible pillars of heaven and earth standing since time immemorial, each one emanating fluctuations of supreme and staggering power.

Within the space of barely half an hour, people had already counted more than a hundred “Divine Ones” from beyond the heavens making their descent. During this time, some of the pillars of light collided, triggering bloody battles, and at least five or six of those “Divine Ones” had already fallen.

Outside the Immortal Ascension Battlefield, there was utter silence. Many people stood as though turned to stone. These Divine Ones from beyond were simply too powerful — more terrifying even than anyone had imagined. Not a single one of those who had descended appeared to be below the Great Sage realm.

No one could say exactly how many enormous beams had descended, for what they witnessed covered only this particular region — only what one could see within the range one’s Celestial Eye could reach.

Yet the Immortal Ascension Battlefield was simply too vast. Even with pillars of light that soared to the heavens and shook entire territories, those too far away would be impossible to see.

“And this is only one corner of it. Just how many people are there — could such powerhouses possibly number in the thousands, tens of thousands? Or even more?!”

Many people’s mouths ran dry, and then a cold chill crept up their spines. It was an unbearable feeling. How had so many of these supreme beings cultivated to such heights? Each one of them had a blood aura like an ocean — none of them ancient relics on the verge of death!

At last, the Immortal Ascension Battlefield gradually grew quiet. No more pillars of light descended; no more powerful fluctuations of Dao principles spread outward. Yet the reverent awe it inspired was only greater now.

The rain of light fell. Within the Immortal Ascension Battlefield, a serene aura arose. The ground that had just been shattered began slowly to heal, becoming level and whole again.

That the Immortal Ascension Battlefield could do this — as though it were alive, capable of self-repair — astonished everyone all over again.

From a distance came the sound of shouting and commotion. Some people were gathering up the rain of blood that had fallen on the ground — the precious blood of the “Divine Ones” from beyond. Whether used in alchemy or for extracting Dao principle fragments to temper weapons, it would serve great purposes.

Without question, beyond all other gains one might make by entering the battlefield, even the shattered bodies of Great Sages alone were priceless treasures for many. Quite a few people cast covetous eyes on the blood rain that had fallen so close to them.

In the end, some entered the field. Of course, there would certainly be close companions and friends waiting outside to receive them upon their return — otherwise, emerging would mean certain death.

In the two days that followed, terrible fluctuations continued to drift from the Immortal Ascension Battlefield from time to time, as combatants dueled in life-or-death battles. At one point a fight spilled all the way to the outer edge, and many onlookers saw a humanoid being tear a mountain peak from the earth with bare hands and use it to crush a Great Sage-level rampaging dragon — though in the end it failed, the being torn apart and bleeding everywhere.

Within this battlefield, certain races held overwhelming natural advantages. Their bodies were innately supreme beyond comparison, leaving those who in the outside world were no less powerful than them forced to retreat instead — they were simply no match.

“On the Emperor’s Path, where heroes contend for supremacy, what matters above all else is the physical body. Every Emperor-level physique in its own era is the most powerful that exists — indestructible across ten thousand ages, surpassing even Emperor-grade weapons,” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

In the days that followed, Ye Fan came to observe every day, and young Bai Ye always accompanied him. The boy’s heart surged with excitement; even from well beyond the battlefield — where one could barely catch a glimpse of those most terrifying “Divine Ones” clashing — his blood ran hot with anticipation.

Ye Fan did not enter. Though he had occasionally sensed what seemed like a familiar aura, it was not the people he yearned to see. He did not set foot inside.

On the fifth day, a river of stars descended from the heavens. A hazy silhouette appeared several hundred li away, and an enormous pillar of light pierced through the firmament — yet another wave of arrivals.

This person had a great Dao treasure vessel suspended above their head, fearsome beyond measure. In the very first instant, they absorbed their own pillar of light, turning that spot into a terrifying black void.

“The Yao Guang lineage!” someone cried out.

In that region, by sheer ill fortune, seven or eight enormous beams of light had appeared simultaneously. Someone recognized that most distinctive of pillars — and right beside that black void, another beam of light was positioned uncomfortably close.

BOOM!

The result was grim. That person was blown apart. Every drop of blood and every fragment of bone was swallowed up by the black void, enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

Then the remaining pillars of light dimmed. No further bloodshed erupted. Only a voice cold as frost rang out, sending tremors across a region of ten thousand li: “If you cannot unleash the Heaven-Devouring Demon Art here, then you are nothing but prey!”

The last of the Great Dao fragments dissipated, and heaven and earth returned to stillness.

Ye Fan’s expression was undisturbed. He still showed no intention of entering. He observed everything that had just transpired in silence, his face taking on a contemplative look.

Over these past several days, within the Immortal Ascension Battlefield there had been unceasing bloody combat. Countless supreme fighters from beyond had descended, and almost immediately, close to half of them had already been eliminated in battle. Some fights had even spilled beyond the battlefield, shaking those who witnessed it.

The spectacle had drawn even more people here. Though the elders of every great immortal sect repeatedly warned their disciples not to approach, many — including the elders themselves — had come regardless. The temptation was simply too great.

RUMBLE!

On this day, from the depths of the Immortal Ascension Battlefield, endless divine radiance erupted. A vast divine gate materialized there, flickering in and out of visibility, revealing what appeared to be a magnificent Celestial Pass — with the sun, moon, and stars all revolving around it.

People outside the battlefield stood there, dumbstruck. What kind of place was this, that it so closely resembled the legendary South Heavenly City Gate of the ancient Celestial Court from myth?

Almost simultaneously, divine gates appeared in various locations across the Immortal Ascension Battlefield. Through each portal, that same magnificent ancient Celestial Pass was visible.

“Immortal Ascension War!”

“How can this generation’s fighters be so powerful? They’ve already established a connection between the two realms so quickly, enabling free passage between the outside world and this battlefield — this is terrifying beyond belief!”

This was a most important battlefield. On certain sacred mountains engraved with ancient seal-script, these divine gates could be constructed, and some Dao mountains still preserved ancient dwelling caves from ages long past.

Here, countless people had died across the ages. Every Golden Age would see the arrival of the most powerful figures, who came to wage the great decisive battles in this place, leaving behind vast quantities of inheritances, divine materials, and more — all sealed away here, emerging again only when the battlefield reopened.

For the “Divine Ones” from beyond, this place held a special significance: they could temper their Emperor-level physiques here, receive inheritances, forge weapons, extend their lives — and beyond all that, there existed a mysterious resonance with Emperors and Sovereigns, connected to the very mystery of immortal ascension!

As one divine gate after another was established, the Immortal Ascension Battlefield was carved into many spheres of influence, each occupied by the most powerful of figures.