Ye Fan stroked his chin. The elder’s words were rich with deeper meaning. The person being sought had ties to the ancient Heavenly Court — a profound connection to the Revered Emperor — and the mention of matters separated by ten thousand ages set Ye Fan’s mind racing at once.

“Young one, do you believe in reincarnation and the cycle of rebirth?” the elder asked. Though white-haired, his skin was as rosy and smooth as an infant’s — like an immortal elder of old.

“I do not.” Ye Fan shook his head. He held only this life sacred, firmly believing that invincibility within one’s own lifetime was the root and foundation of all things — nothing else mattered. This was the bedrock of his Grand Dao. Once it wavered, the world he had built within himself would one day come crashing down.

The elder nodded, rose to his full height, and stood at the edge of the cliff. His white hair danced in the wind, and his entire being took on a sharper, more piercing aura. He said: “The Revered Emperor said the same.”

Ye Fan was briefly taken aback. He knew far too little about the Revered Emperor, and it was rare to find someone willing to speak of him. Naturally, he stilled his heart and listened intently, wanting to know everything there was to know about that Celestial Emperor.

“The path he walked — he never looked back. Standing upon desolate mountain peaks, even when the mist parted before him and the future lay visible, he would never place his hopes in what lay ahead. He believed the journey was filled with variables. He trusted only this life. As long as he himself was invincible, he could command everything, change everything — no one could ever stop him.”

The elder’s words sent waves crashing through Ye Fan’s heart — like a vast ocean, surging waves striking the sky. Was this not precisely his own lifelong conviction? The two of them truly were alike. Had they been born in the same era, they might well have been kindred souls.

“And yet — perhaps two identical flowers truly can exist in this world. Believe it or not, you cannot escape it.” The elder sighed softly, fixing his gaze upon Ye Fan.

This left Ye Fan momentarily bewildered. Judging from the elder’s words, it seemed as though this was somehow being directed at him — two identical flowers. Could he be implying that there was some connection between him and the Revered Emperor?

The idea was utterly world-shaking. After a brief stir within his heart, he quickly settled himself. He would never give credence to such a notion. He was only himself. It was impossible that he had any kind of past — nor could he be another person.

“Do not misunderstand. Though you and the Revered Emperor have spoken similar words, in all other respects you are very different,” the venerable elder clarified with a smile.

“What happened in the past? Why did the Heavenly Court collapse in a single day? He was so powerful — how could the Revered Emperor have died so suddenly, powerless to let the Heavenly Court endure through the ages?” Ye Fan had many things he could not understand, and having met someone from the Divine Organization, he naturally asked everything he wanted to know — for rumor had it they were descendants of the ancient Heavenly Court.

“There were various complex reasons. First and foremost, the Longevity Celestial Sovereign made use of a similar flower to unsettle the Revered Emperor’s heart — and from there, the situation changed, drawing open the curtain on what followed.” This elder, with the bearing of an immortal and the Dao of a sage, was filled with endless feeling. He shook his head at that chapter of history with helpless resignation.

“Please enlighten me, Senior.” Ye Fan was profoundly interested in everything pertaining to the Revered Emperor and the ancient Heavenly Court, and was full of curiosity. It was a great secret from ages past.

“Even if the Longevity Celestial Sovereign was very powerful — holding a peak imperial lifespan at that time — he alone would not have been able to change anything. What the Revered Emperor was attempting to accomplish required an enormous expenditure of his focus and energy…”

An ancient history unfolded piece by piece as the elder spoke, and as the truth truly emerged, Ye Fan was struck with a succession of astonished shocks. He found himself yearning for that age.

The Revered Emperor had been overwhelmingly powerful, his ambitions vast beyond measure. He cast the Immortal Cauldron — and what he sought was not to ascend to immortality alone, but to lead the entire Heavenly Court he had founded in ascending together, ascending into the Immortal Realm as one.

Ye Fan was left speechless. The ancient Heavenly Court had truly been powerful to an excessive degree. An entire sect seeking to transcend together into the Immortal Realm? At that time, it was not even certain the Immortal Realm existed — after all, not even the Nine Great Celestial Sovereigns had ever managed to break through into it.

The Immortal Cauldron pierced through the barrier of the Immortal Realm — and at that moment, something from the other side seemed to have come through, opposing and contending against the Revered Emperor.

It was at precisely that moment that the Longevity Celestial Sovereign interfered with the Revered Emperor. He had long suspected that once the Revered Emperor succeeded, he would cast them all aside — or even turn on them and cut them down without mercy.

“At the most critical juncture, the Undying Celestial Emperor also came — and that devastating strike was lethal!” As he reached this point, the elder’s eyes grew sharp as swords, beams of light shooting forth, splitting the star-space. His mood darkened with grief and fury.

Ye Fan stood dumbstruck. The Undying Celestial Emperor had already emerged into the world at that time — and coexisted in the same era as the Revered Emperor? It was beyond astonishing.

In the past, there had been legends of a similar sort, but they had never been confirmed. The prevailing accounts held that the two were separated by ten thousand years.

“At that time, the Undying Celestial Emperor had not yet achieved the Dao — he was still a young man. He had once been praised by the Revered Emperor in the highest possible terms, who said he possessed limitless potential and that the Heavenly Court could one day be entrusted to him.”

Ye Fan was struck speechless over and over. This was beyond bizarre, utterly surreal. So many things had happened in the past that remained unknown to later generations — and now, at last, he was learning a portion of the truth.

“The Undying Celestial Emperor, in principle, was someone on the verge of achieving the Dao — still fairly young, and fundamentally incapable of wounding a cultivator of the Emperor’s Path. Yet the Kunlun Remnant Clan had their schemes. They entrusted the Immortal Bell tainted with Kunlun’s blood to him for temporary use — and at the critical moment, he unleashed the most terrifying strike of all!”

As the elder reached this point, he let out a long, weary sigh — desolate, and filled with endless regret. The Heavenly Court had fallen just short of success.

“Is that how the Revered Emperor perished?” Ye Fan asked.

“No. Who was the Revered Emperor? Even if both the Longevity Celestial Sovereign and the Undying Celestial Emperor — wielding the Immortal Bell — had acted against him, they could not have brought him to ruin. Throughout all ages, in the nine heavens and ten earths, he could have had no rival — for he bore the title of Revered Emperor.” The elder’s voice rang out with powerful conviction, deeply moved.

“Someone else intervened?” Ye Fan was astonished.

“Yes. The Revered Emperor did not extend his imperial lifespan only for the Longevity Celestial Sovereign by two thousand years. There were others — other Supreme Beings as well.”

This piece of news was nothing short of explosive, sending tremors through the soul. In that age, multiple emperors truly had coexisted — and the Revered Emperor’s methods had indeed been so far beyond heaven that one could only marvel.

“Furthermore, existences from within the great Forbidden Zones emerged, burning themselves to the extreme in their ultimate rise, joining together to block the Revered Emperor — trapped between two worlds, caught in the passage to the Immortal Realm with nowhere to advance or retreat.”

Having reached this point, the white-haired elder was utterly unruffled, speaking with profound calm — as though recounting something completely ordinary.

Yet Ye Fan was shaken to his very core. What kind of ancient history was this? How magnificent and sweeping — that had been a true immortality war: multiple emperors joining in the assault, a world-overturning battle of the ages.

“Why did they attack the Revered Emperor? Did they not wish to ascend to immortality alongside him?” Ye Fan could not understand.

“They believed, in their one-sided thinking, that once the Revered Emperor succeeded, he would slaughter them all — and cause this entire universe to be destroyed. He would take only a portion of those close to him into the Immortal Realm, leaving the rest behind.” The elder’s face was expressionless as he spoke.

“This…”

Ye Fan did not know what to say. All of it was so bizarre, so unreal. He had guessed at many things over the years, yet only now was he learning a portion of the truth — and it was more convoluted than he had imagined, and more complex than the elder’s telling of it.

“Can that battle be taken as proof that the Immortal Realm truly exists? That it’s not merely a false realm woven from intersecting laws?” Ye Fan asked.

“It cannot. After all, the Revered Emperor never managed to enter it.” The elder shook his head. Having been struck by multiple emperors simultaneously, while still attempting to ascend to immortality — that had been simply impossible.

Even after encountering circumstances such as those, the Revered Emperor had not died. He withdrew, forced his way into the Forbidden Zone, and slew two of those within it — sending the star-sea into catastrophic collapse.

“The Forbidden Zones even existed at that time…” Ye Fan’s thoughts drifted far away.

“They did. But the Forbidden Zones of that time were not in the Northern Dipper. Those existences were far more ancient than the current masters of the Forbidden Zones.” The elder said.

Achieving immortality had stumped how many throughout the ages — did immortals even truly exist? Even the Revered Emperor had failed. How many heroes had raised their heads to the sky and lamented? From ancient times to the present, not one person had ever succeeded.

Immortality — distant, beyond reach. Ye Fan’s thoughts wandered freely, his heart moved with longing. Perhaps one day, once he had trodden the Emperor’s Path, that too would become the goal for which he would strive and fight.

From ancient times, not one person had ever accomplished it. It was the ultimate challenge. If he succeeded, the sense of accomplishment would be beyond compare.

When the Revered Emperor withdrew from the immortal road, he was already a spent arrow — yet he still slew two, then ultimately chose to leave, returning to the land of his birth, and buried himself there.

The Undying Celestial Emperor sealed himself at the source of immortality for ten thousand years, then emerged and smoothly achieved the Dao — truly living up to what the Revered Emperor of old had praised him as: supreme above the end of the mythological age, standing over all of past and future, ushering in a chapter of brilliance beyond ordinary imagination.

“Some say the Undying Celestial Emperor is actually a being from the Immortal Realm. Is that true?”

“There is no evidence — for no one has ever entered the Immortal Realm,” the elder answered.

Ye Fan sighed with some measure of melancholy. The battle of ages past — emperors scheming against one another, and even the Revered Emperor had bowed out in shadow. Clearly the truth was more twisted than anything he had imagined, and more complex than the elder’s account. Yet none of it meant anything anymore — it had all become the past.

“What kind of person is the Nether Emperor?” Ye Fan asked. A battle with the Underworld was inevitable in the future, and naturally he was paying close attention.

“The Nether Emperor is a terrifying being — unfathomably deep.” That was the elder’s verdict, and the gravity of his expression as he spoke said everything. He then elaborated on certain matters.

“Nether Emperor” was simply what people called him now. In that distant past, he had been known as the Nether Sovereign.

The Underworld was a mysterious organization. Its founder was none other than the Nether Sovereign — or Nether Emperor — who had a most extraordinary origin. According to legend, he had achieved the Dao from a state of being an ancient corpse, becoming an emperor of his generation.

Before that, the corpse that was his former self had already been an invincible figure who had achieved the Dao — the sheer weight of that lineage left one thunderstruck. He was the first person in history to die and then, from a corpse, achieve emperorhood a second time.

In fact, to this very day, his “Dao” had influenced countless others. The source of the corpse disaster lay in the Underworld — it had provided a form of immortality technique to many ancient Supreme Beings, pointing a direction on the road to long life.

The Underworld was deeply strange. It sought to reconstruct the cycle of reincarnation — expounding a unique and singular path to long life — which naturally drew in certain ancient Supreme Beings.

While the Nether Emperor slumbered in dormancy, across different eras, other beings had stepped in to take charge — controlling the Underworld and researching this technique.

The Underworld had changed hands many times. The most famous of its past masters were several Supreme Beings who had taken charge, shaking their respective ages. The Longevity Celestial Sovereign was among them.

“The Nether Emperor’s origins are this extraordinary — with a prior existence even in the mythological age, two lives and two paths to the Dao. He is truly to be feared!” This was the first time Ye Fan had felt such wariness toward the Nether Emperor, and he felt the other’s danger ranking deserved to be raised by a full tier.

Of course, the so-called reincarnation and the dual-life body — only the physical body remained unchanged. The primal spirit had long since withered away, and then once again, a new spark of divine consciousness had blazed to life. It had already become an entirely different living being.

This was the direction the Underworld pursued in its research into long life: believing all else to be illusory — that only the imperishable physical body was real, and that in guarding the “True Self” against extinction, with all the imprints of all reincarnations eventually linked and unified, sooner or later the “True Self” would emerge once more. At that point, one would have attained immortality: past life, this life, and future life merged into one — thus achieving eternal life.

“That was a mythological age that cannot be traced back to or replicated — the ancient existences within the Forbidden Zones of that era were ancient enough to be terrifying, utterly unlike the present,” the elder also sighed.

In the age of myth, the Underworld itself had been a great Forbidden Zone of life — and through the passing of ages, it had evolved into what it was now: an organization, and a formidable, dreadful inheritance.