Over the past several days, roars continued to ring out from within the battlefield from time to time. Though many had been stripped of their cultivated attainment and were heavily suppressed, those voices still possessed terrifying penetrative power.
Dimly, Ye Fan could make out names — Taichu, Yao Guang, Zhang Bairen, Golden Cicada, Yin Tiande — as though someone was roaring, calling out to others.
Not long after, he caught more voices.
“With my master in the field, who can stand against us?!” someone cried, still possessing the last remnants of their power, the sound rolling and reverberating among the mountain ranges like thunder.
Near one of those gates of light, more than a dozen figures stood guard. That place had become their sacred ground, barring entry to all outsiders.
“Not fighting alone — there are factions, and followers have appeared?” Ye Fan murmured.
By now he was certain: his conjecture had been correct. This was the one true path — the supreme battlefield where the greatest fighters contended for the Emperor’s mantle!
And he… had arrived ahead of schedule. Without the crystal stele at the great fortress calling his name, he was already waiting here at the crossroads ahead. Considering that this star was named the First Tribulation Star, this was likely the First Emperor’s Gate — the most contested ground for all who came.
“A Great Sage has come out!” someone cried.
It was an old Daoist, a native of this star, who had entered earlier to seize an immortal destiny. He had truly broken open an ancient dwelling cave — but in the end had very nearly been slain, emerging covered in blood, having escaped death by a hair’s breadth.
“Cangyu Daoist — they say his original form is a wild bird in whose veins Firephoenix blood runs. After tempering his body and transforming into human form, he became even more powerful. Who would have thought his injuries could be this severe!”
Everyone was greatly alarmed.
A group of powerful cultivators stepped forward to guard him, preventing anyone from ambushing him — because once you left the battlefield, your cultivated attainment would not recover for months or even years.
The demon-race Daoist left under the protection of the crowd, his face grey and haggard. Before departing, he revealed quite a bit of information, leaving many people stunned.
This generation was different from all those before it. The numbers who had come vastly exceeded the past, surpassing all previous records. The Cangyu Daoist estimated at least ten times more than before — a number that left many speechless.
Moreover, this generation’s fighters were powerful beyond compare, each one surpassing all conventions. He had seen some beings of unknown race who, with nothing but their physical bodies, could easily tear a Great Sage apart.
The depths of the battlefield were extremely brutal: blood rain falling everywhere, a scene straight out of a living hell.
“On some of the ancient mountains, the runes may hold the greatest immortal destiny of all!”
Each mountain peak engraved with ancient seal-script might hold a specific immortal destiny sealed within — perhaps ancient inscriptions recording past inheritances, even the Dao tradition of a Sovereign.
Most importantly, too many had come in ages past, and they were no ordinary people — they included Emperor’s children and heirs of Emperor-path traditions. After their deaths, some of the Great Dao fragments they carried had transformed into runes, leaving behind imprints.
Beyond that, this place also grew strange immortal objects. Beneath the ground were blood crystals and divine marrow — said to be produced when supreme beings died here and were nurtured by the earth’s vein-lines, suffused with Great Dao fragments. Consuming them could extend one’s lifespan and deepen one’s understanding and comprehension of the principles of the Dao.
As for divine metals, those too existed. How could those who made it here be ordinary? Across ten thousand ages, countless powerful beings had died in this place, their weapons broken or shattered — and all the remnants they left behind had been sealed here.
“Whatever you do, do not touch those gates of light — it will bring mortal calamity!” This was the Cangyu Daoist’s final warning before departing.
The gates of light carried a particular power. Once opened, they recognized only the imprint of the one who had established them. Anyone wishing to pass through required that person’s permission — otherwise they would be obliterated.
Unless you could shatter it by brute force!
And at that moment, changes in the gates of light continued. The mountain peaks where they stood were surging upward, the gates positioned at the summits, and pavilions and terraces had begun to appear.
Then curtains of light-mist emerged, shielding those areas. Through them, one could dimly see that a mighty power was flowing from the great Celestial Pass behind the gates, protecting those regions.
Impregnable fortresses!
Within a matter of days, dozens of sects had taken shape within the Immortal Ascension Battlefield. Each gate of light represented a distinct Dao tradition, each one sheltered by the protection of its gate of light, making it near-impossible for outsiders to break through.
Ye Fan had already recognized the Celestial Pass behind the gates. It was the same great fortress of the one true path he had once glimpsed — though at that time he had seen only its imposing gatehouse. Now it had fully revealed itself.
Clearly, all those who had inscribed their names on the crystal stele had entered through that great fortress, descending from it to wage war here.
Each gate of light could only belong to the most powerful of champions — each gate was exclusive to one individual, requiring their consent before any other could pass. And now the Emperor’s Gate, flowing through the gates of light, had transformed those sites into one impregnable fortress after another.
“So this is meant to sustain long-term combat and survival for different factions, creating the conditions for them to operate here over time? This is nothing short of one sect after another, with those regions as one sanctified ground after another,” Ye Fan said, the more he understood, the more he felt the Immortal Ascension Battlefield would be brutal beyond measure.
Not long after, the local powerhouse who had entered earlier — the azure dragon — also emerged. Battered and bleeding from head to tail, its gains had nonetheless been enormous: it had successfully slain two opponents and was already preparing to re-enter after a brief recovery.
“There are actually the insights of ancient Sovereigns and Great Emperors preserved inside — records of their entire lives. If you obtain them, setting aside the possibility of following their path to attain the Dao, becoming a quasi-Emperor is absolutely within reach!”
This was nothing short of explosive, and it helped people understand why those supreme fighters seemed intent on fortifying the gates of light — those champions appeared as though they meant to take up permanent residence here, because the buried treasure within was simply supreme beyond measure.
Here, on the Emperor’s Path where heroes contended for supremacy, some of the most powerful figures would eventually gather ten, twenty, even dozens of followers around them — or so it was said. These were competitors they had subdued along the way.
Simply because certain people were too overwhelmingly powerful, leaving their rivals without even a glimpse of hope — and so those rivals chose to follow willingly.
And yet, only a few days had passed, and already there were world-dominating champions with more than a dozen followers — or even more.
“The more you understand this place, the more humbling it becomes. Though it holds immortal destinies beyond reckoning, it has nothing to do with the likes of us,” the big-bearded man sighed.
In these days past, their group had remained without fail, showing up every day to watch from the sidelines.
Bai Ye had been with them the whole time, his blood running hot each day, desperately hoping to possess that kind of power, burning with longing as he stared toward the front.
“Look — that low hill right there has a rune on it. So close, and yet we dare not go in,” the big-bearded man admitted frankly.
Ye Fan had been observing for many days now, his expression calm, showing no particular movement. And then, at that very moment, he stepped forward — making his way directly into the Immortal Ascension Battlefield.
“Hey, where are you going? Your body isn’t healed yet!” Bai Ye cried out, rushing over to block his way.
“It’s fine. I’m just going to have a look around,” Ye Fan said.
“But… your body — you were so powerful before, but now you can’t even fly,” the boy said. He believed Ye Fan’s injuries were severe.
Ye Fan shook his head without another word and stepped into the Immortal Ascension Battlefield, not pausing for even half a beat.
Behind him, the big-bearded man and the rest of the group stared with wide eyes, scarcely believing what they were seeing. After all these days watching, they had consistently assumed Ye Fan was a mortal — it had never occurred to them that this sickly young man would have the sheer audacity to simply walk in.
Once the Divine Ones had descended, outsiders no longer dared venture inside. Unless one was a Great Sage, one had no standing to enter — anyone else would simply be hunted down and killed.
“Heavens — he’s heading straight for that rune on the low hill!” the young woman beside the big-bearded man gasped.
After climbing the hill, Ye Fan pressed his hand against the symbol, but unfortunately received no response — nothing extraordinary materialized.
He did not hesitate. Simple and direct as ever, he brought his palm down in one strike and shattered the rune, sending ancient light blazing skyward in a shock that shook the entire surrounding landscape!
Boulders went flying. The summit of the low hill was sliced clean off, great rocks tumbling down, leaving the area in a scene of complete devastation.
Behind him, the whole group stood slack-jawed, every single one of them shaken to their core, as though they had just witnessed the most inconceivable thing.
That was an ancient seal-script of the Immortal Ascension Battlefield — and he had just directly obliterated it. This… this was simply brutally ruthless!
Even those Great Sages probably couldn’t do this through bare physical force alone, could they? They still remembered how everyone else had approached it — with open hearts, in earnest, meticulous study.
And this person had been this straightforward, this simple and crude — overwhelming everything with pure brute strength.
“This is insanely brutal!” one young man said.
“It is… insanely brutal!” the big-bearded man echoed, and the whole group just stood there dumbfounded, murmuring it to themselves in stunned reflex.
When Ye Fan struck down and obliterated the ancient seal-script, a weapon was revealed — belonging to a pinnacle Great Sage, still stained with blood that had yet to dry.
He picked up the ancient, unadorned blade and found that the divine spirit within had perished, yet there lingered a cryptic profundity — a passage of scripture, very abstruse and deep.
He absorbed it in silent contemplation for a moment, then turned and walked back out of the battlefield. He flicked the blood from the ancient blade and flung it out — straight to the big-bearded man and his group.
“This is… for us?” They were dumbstruck once again.
What kind of person was this? This was an immortal destiny — and he was just giving it away like nothing, not caring in the slightest.
The big-bearded man and the rest picked it up in a frenzy of excitement, looking left and right in all directions. No one was coming — everyone else had long since rushed toward somewhere in the distance, where a great battle was apparently unfolding near the outer edge of the battlefield.
BOOM! BOOM!…
Suddenly, from another direction, enormous footsteps rang out, and the earth shook without stop. A massive silver being came charging forward — of unknown race, shaped somewhat like a fierce tiger, its entire body covered in silver scales, a single blazing horn upon its head.
Ye Fan had shattered the ancient seal-script, sending light blazing to the sky, and that had alarmed one of the powerful fighters who came straight to kill him — without a single word, no exchange of pleasantries, just a direct challenge.
On the Emperor’s Path, where heroes contended for supremacy, one had to defeat all opponents in one’s territory. In the end, the goal was to stand alone at the pinnacle, atop the bones of all rivals.
The silver-scaled tiger was at the Great Sage realm. Its body was stained with blood — clearly it had already killed more than one person, for its physique was too powerful, giving it a tremendous innate advantage in this place.
Yet the result of this battle was beyond anyone’s expectations. When the silver-scaled tiger came charging with that silver horn — capable of tearing apart a Great Sage’s body — Ye Fan did not move an inch. At the last instant, he brought his fist down.
CRACK!
That great sage-level horn was shattered. Bear in mind that this was a divine horn more formidable than any Great Sage artifact — a thing rarely seen in all the world, near-impossible to find — and yet it had been casually snapped, leaving everyone gaping.
“ROAAARRR—!”
The divine tiger roared. From its mouth erupted a surge of immortal light — its cultivated attainment had not been fully severed, and it launched a killing strike, intent on butchering Ye Fan.
But the outcome of this battle left it in despair, and the dozen or so onlookers watching from outside the battlefield in absolute terror. Ye Fan was simple and direct as ever, his methods almost crude — yet devastatingly effective.
BOOM!
The immortal light was dispersed by a single fist.
Pff!
The silver-scaled tiger absorbed blow after blow and was sent flying, then simply erupted, sending blood raining everywhere.
Behind him, Bai Ye, the big-bearded man, and the other dozen or so people all stood there in a trance, mouths gaping wide enough to fit half a fist.
Ye Fan reached into the silver tiger’s remains and extracted a divine orb from within, then handed it to Bai Ye. The young man could not draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body, so he could not walk the path of Dao cultivation — in that case, cultivating directly while holding this divine tiger orb would ensure he would never lack for spiritual energy.
Of course, he would have to discard it within a few months — because this divine orb had temporarily had its Great Sage aura severed. After several months, it might restore itself, and at that point it would be a catastrophe for the young man.
“Who is that person? A true deity from the heavens!” The big-bearded man and the others came back to their senses and cried out only after Ye Fan had departed and his silhouette had almost vanished into the battlefield.
Were it not for the shattered remains of that terrifying divine tiger still lying there, they would have thought they were dreaming.
Before Ye Fan left, he had said only one thing — asking them to help look after Bai Ye. This set the whole group buzzing with excitement and exhilaration. To receive such an entrusting word from a young man more brutal than any “Divine One” — it was an honor to them, and an opportunity.
“Divine One — no, God Among Gods. We will absolutely do as you say, and we will stand watch here for you, looking forward to the day you sweep through the Immortal Ascension Battlefield!” the big-bearded man and the others shouted after him.
Though Ye Fan had lost his arcane arts and the Dao-fragments had been sealed within his flesh and blood, he still possessed extreme speed. His physical body was too overwhelming — it was as though this heaven and earth could barely contain it. He became a bolt of lightning, skimming the ground as he went.
Before long, he came upon a great mountain. On it, a divine gate blazed with light, and on the surrounding peaks, temple after temple had risen — magnificent and solemn.
This was an expanse of Buddhist temples!
A young monk sat cross-legged within the gate of light, wrapped in divine radiance, like an immortal Buddha elevated above the mortal world. His white monk’s robe billowed, and within the sunset glow, there was something transcendent about him — untouched by the world’s dust.
Jin Chazi — an extraordinarily powerful figure.
Ye Fan did not climb the mountain. He paused briefly, then moved on.
On the mountain peak, before the sacred temples, a young woman caught sight of his retreating form, and her expression shifted violently. She murmured to herself: “I feel as though I’ve just seen someone who shouldn’t exist in this world.”
She was Jue Youqing — in her day, the supreme young champion of the Western Desert Buddhist school, once ranked alongside the Northern Emperor Wang Teng. At that time, her fame and strength had far surpassed Ye Fan’s. She had met Jin Chazi on the Ancient Path Among the Stars, and since then had become one of his followers.
Within the gate of light, Jin Chazi opened his eyes. He was stabilizing the gate, drawing on the power of the Emperor’s Gate behind it to manifest all the surrounding temples and mountain gates.
Jue Youqing shook her head. “I must have been mistaken. It couldn’t be him. Three hundred years dead, fallen to an ancient supreme — even if an immortal came, that couldn’t be undone.”
Ye Fan moved through the Immortal Ascension Battlefield. He passed many places; two more confrontations broke out along the way, and neither was able to stop him from moving forward.
Another sacred peak. On it stood a gate of light, from which a great expanse of Daoist sanctuaries had manifested. A Daoist sat in meditation, looking down upon all living things as from on high. Around him stood more than a dozen followers.
The Nine Tribulations Daoist — a supremely powerful figure. At this moment, he was watching a young man who claimed allegiance to the Yao Guang lineage below, his eyes deep and unruffled as still water.
At last, the Yao Guang lineage’s powerhouse descended the mountain. In the short term, neither side would be engaging the other in open battle — there were too many supreme fighters present, and the most powerful among them had no desire to meet and clash too early.
Because beyond this place, inside that Emperor’s Gate, there were too many opportunities yet to be contested. During this period, holding the gate of light firm and securing the passage between the two realms was the most critical priority.
In time, whether they came to fight to the death here or to contest those scriptures and inheritances within the Emperor’s Gate, they would all depend on this channel connecting both worlds.
“How can this person look exactly like him — who are you?!” When the Yao Guang lineage’s disciple left the Nine Tribulations Daoist’s mountain gate and set out on the road away, he came upon Ye Fan, and froze on the spot.
Ye Fan paid no attention and continued along his original path. The powerhouse called out sharply: “Stop!”
He gave chase, cutting off Ye Fan’s way. He could not believe Ye Fan was still alive. The Human Race’s Sacred Physique had fought the Emperor-path supreme to the utmost in that battle of ages past, dying in the dark chaos. How could he have survived?
“Is there any point in impersonating a dead man? Who are you actually?” he demanded loudly.
“I am exactly the dead man you’re thinking of. Even Yao Guang herself wouldn’t dare be this insolent with me,” Ye Fan said calmly. He stepped forward and struck out with a palm, sending this adversary — who had made his hostility plain — flying sideways, blood spraying across the void.