A river appeared. At first it flowed gently, then it quickened, surging and roaring as it rushed toward Ye Fan.
The River of Time!
It was not a true river of water — only the embodiment of a law, carrying the breath of flowing years, sweeping across all heaven and earth, unleashing thunder upon ten thousand layers of cloud.
The Carefree Celestial Sovereign was throwing everything he had left. He could only unleash this one final strike — the most dazzling instant of his entire life, reaching its absolute peak, his offensive power unmatched.
Brilliant light swallowed the cosmos. No one could see clearly. Years moved like blades, cleaving down upon the most outstanding of heaven’s chosen — in this moment, Yunheng’s River of Time cut not only at Ye Fan, but at himself, and at the entire expanse of cosmos surrounding them.
He sought to use the River of Time to destroy this place — to punch a road through the cosmos itself, connecting to another world, in one final heaven-defying gambit.
Boom!
A world-shaking collision. This place became a swirling fog of ten thousand layers, the immortal river crashing through, chaos surging everywhere.
When all fell still at last, the Carefree Celestial Sovereign stumbled — his entire body drenched in blood, the jade bottle in his hand shattered. Heaven and earth resounded with ten thousand cries of grief, a landscape of ruin and desolation, broken and wretched beyond description.
In the end, he had failed. He had created the Walk Secret Art, stepped into the domain of time — and yet his final defeat had come at the hands of this very law, felled by time itself.
He had sent out that final strike. He had wounded his enemy, split the heavens — and cut himself down as well.
The Celestial Emperor form Ye Fan had manifested was ground to dust — struck by the River of Time, it crumbled into dried bone in the place of his true body. The chaotic cauldron-furnace rotted apart. Ye Fan’s true body went flying, and the All-Mother Qi Cauldron shattered into four pieces.
Ye Fan coughed up great volumes of blood. He had evaded the direct killing cut of time itself — but he could not evade the waves of world-ending divine power that followed. His injuries were catastrophic in their severity.
He was drenched in blood head to toe. Yet in that final exchange, he had also unleashed his strongest single strike — ten thousand laws exploding outward, driven into the depths of his opponent’s body.
Ye Fan knew: the Carefree Celestial Sovereign could not survive. Whether it was the cut of time, or the chaos of ten thousand laws — both had grievously wounded his soul. And now Yunheng was aged and withered, without the power to defy heaven any further.
“Heh heh… ha ha ha…”
The Carefree Celestial Sovereign looked up to the heavens and laughed — his expression complex, his emotions impossible to read. The space between his brows had long since split open, a stream of blood trickling down his face. In this moment, the River of Time turned back upon itself, crashing down upon its own creator.
Boom!
He withered beyond all endurance. Every inch of his flesh dried and shriveled, turning to white bone — years wearing him down to nothing. He exploded apart in an instant, dissolving into the dust of the cosmos.
A man who had spent his life studying time had in the end been defeated within his own domain.
The great Dao of heaven and earth resounded. In the wake of that battle, nearly all laws had been severed — the entire region had become cursed and barren. Every star in the sky had been ground to powder. Nothing remained save Ye Fan and his weapons.
The battle had ended.
It ended in a way that left people stunned into silence — a way that felt like something that had to be witnessed in wordless stillness.
A generation’s Celestial Sovereign had fallen, becoming a wisp of smoke. Once again, it had been proven before all the world: time shows no mercy — no matter how great a supreme figure, there will always come a day when they reach their end.
Ye Fan stood alone in the cosmos, drawing in the torrential storm of divine power from all ten directions to repair himself. The injuries he had sustained were severe — yet they had not struck at the root of his life force, and he could recover from them.
A Celestial Sovereign had died — cut down by Ye Fan in the cosmos. This was an event of profoundly far-reaching impact — a monumental occurrence that would reshape the world!
After the silence came a deafening roar across the cosmos. Ye Fan had gone against the heavens and attacked a Celestial Sovereign — and had succeeded! He had forged an immortal legend, shaking the Ten Wastelands.
The cosmos was no longer still. A great wave of turbulence swept through it, stirring the nine heavens and ten earths. A peerless and invincible strongman had illuminated the world with blazing, eye-catching brilliance — a radiance that shone across all of history.
Ye Fan collected the fragments of the Immortal Tear Jade Bottle and a withered branch of wood, then vanished from this place. He appeared in other ancient regions, beginning to devour life essence in a frenzy to repair himself.
Through formation arrays and formation cores, cultivators observing from across many stellar realms trembled where they stood, crying out in voices that could barely contain themselves.
Attacking a Forbidden Zone of Life — such a thought had been too daring to even dream of before. Yet after this battle, all the world shook. Ye Fan’s performance had shattered everything people thought they knew.
This… felt like returning to that brilliant age of antiquity, when the most gifted of each generation rose like stars and shone like the sun!
The people of the Forbidden Zones fell silent. Ye Fan had risen this way — first slaying the Tyrant Physique, then cutting down the Carefree Celestial Sovereign. His overwhelming methods — how could anyone not be wary of him?
These were achievements that chilled even their ancient hearts. The supreme figure had sublimated, and still lost. Every one of them could not help but think of themselves — if some day they faced the Holy Physique, what then?
Living in an age such as this — it left the people of the Forbidden Zones deeply uneasy!
Their very lives were threatened. At their level of existence, could anyone recall a time when they had thought so carefully about their own survival because of a single person? The indignation of it was infuriating.
In a patch of empty void, Ye Fan sat in meditation for several days. At last he recovered — the damage he had suffered was not of a world-ending kind, and with his current cultivation in blood and vitality, healing even severe wounds was nothing of consequence.
When Ye Fan opened his eyes once more, electric arcs crackled through the void and the cosmos shuddered at his presence. This battle had left him with a wealth of profound insight, and he had tasted for himself just how terrifying the one without flaws — the great emperor — truly was.
“What he said was not without reason,” Ye Fan murmured. “When a single technique reaches its absolute extreme, it is enough to stand undefeated beneath all heaven. To focus entirely on mastering a single domain — one day, such a person will tower above the nine heavens.”
He reflected on how his opponent had entered the domain of time through the Walk Secret Art, ascending to its pinnacle — and he himself had been deeply shaken by it. Yet his own path was one of cultivating many laws, seeking to take all of them to their utmost extreme — how easy a thing was that?
But every person walks a different road. He would not waver. His Dao was his own, and he understood it clearly — he would walk it without the slightest hesitation.
Several days later, Ye Fan returned to the Northern Dipper. His reappearance sent tremors through all. He was back — could it be he intended to enter a Forbidden Zone of Life and do battle with one of the ancient supreme figures?
Everyone was dumbstruck, looking on with disbelieving eyes.
As for the several great Forbidden Zones — the atmosphere within them turned tense. Cold, penetrating gazes locked onto him, watching in silent attention. If Ye Fan truly pushed things this far, they would have to emerge and fight.
In the end, Ye Fan entered the Great Wilderness where the Reincarnation Sea had once stood. Nothing remained there but a mountain gate entrance — the actual sea was gone, leveled to flat ground.
“From this day forward, the Reincarnation Sea exists no more in this world!” Ye Fan’s voice rang out, shaking the vast and boundless earth.
With a sweep of his hand, he reduced that place to powder — the Forbidden Zone of Life known as the Reincarnation Sea was erased entirely from history. It became a thing of the past, never to be seen again.
Only then did the world understand: with the Carefree Celestial Sovereign’s death, the Reincarnation Sea had perished with him. Not a single soul remained within.
“A Forbidden Zone of Life — just like that, gone?!” The whole world was shaken. Sweeping away a supreme figure had been staggering enough — but leveling an entire Forbidden Zone of Life sent even deeper tremors of terror through all.
The greatest feat of the ancient era!
“Heavens — of the Seven Great Forbidden Zones of Life, one has now been permanently wiped from existence! The Great Completion Holy Physique Ye Fan has truly gone beyond all reason!”
The world erupted in an uproar. The news spread to every domain — this was an unimaginable, magnificent feat. The end of a Forbidden Zone was something of tremendous consequence.
People came to understand: this was not Ye Fan’s achievement alone. In the age of antiquity, the Void Emperor had done battle across many regions — entering the Reincarnation Sea more than once, personally killing one or two of its inhabitants. Three hundred years ago, during the great turmoil of darkness, the Reincarnation Sea had lost another supreme figure. Those successive deaths over those hundreds of thousands of years were what had made it possible for Ye Fan to finally level this place.
In other words, leveling a Forbidden Zone was not something any single generation could accomplish — it was the result of the great emperors of all ages working together!
This gave people hope. The great turmoil of darkness was terrifying — but if the remaining Forbidden Zones had each dwindled to only one or two members, then in the future they might all be wiped out, one by one.
As it had just proven: the Reincarnation Sea was gone, truly and forever, never to appear again on this star where emperors were buried!
“How many heroes and exceptional talents lay their bones in the Forbidden Zones — how many champions had their blood spilled on those ancient grounds. May we finally see them all swept away!” This was the heartfelt wish of many.
Ye Fan made a circuit through the Northern Dipper. None of the remaining Forbidden Zones made a sound. Those who had been walking freely in the outside world, the descendants of Forbidden Zone origins, all retreated back behind their gates — daring not to appear.
Not long before, they had been planning to slaughter the Heavenly Court and destroy Ye Fan’s orthodox inheritance. Now, they had lost every shred of their defiance — they dared not encounter Ye Fan, and could only keep as far from him as possible.
Ye Fan collected his own aura and walked upon the earth, treading across every corner of the Great Wilderness, pursuing the memories of old. Regrettably, the magnificent rivers and mountains had been preserved — but the one called Bai Jiuyou, the White-Robed Divine King, and those others were gone and could never return.
Ye Fan felt sorrow. In certain places tied to old memories, he offered his reverent remembrance in silence. Without bodies to find, he could only stand in the places where they had once walked and think of them.
“Elder Brother Ye…” the Sacred Daughter of Yaochi appeared, her peerless features bearing a complex expression. She extended an invitation to enter Yaochi. There had been a time when they were rivals of the same generation — yet now the person before her was a mythical figure who could do battle against supreme beings.
Ye Fan nodded and entered Yaochi, wishing to look upon that Stone King once more. By his calculations, the divine embryo within it should emerge within the next five thousand years.
By now, he feared not the woman who had always existed at the beginning of all things, whether she be good or evil. Having reached the level of Great Completion Holy Physique, Ye Fan was confident he could suppress her.
“Hmm — she will become a generation’s Female Sovereign in the future?” Ye Fan stared at the Nine-Aperture Divine Embryo. Inside the crystalline and wondrous stone, a woman sat in meditation with her eyes closed. Sensing his arrival, she seemed slightly wary — her body gave a faint tremble.
“I hope that in the future we may fight side by side.” This divine thought was transmitted from within the stone, as though in answer.
Ye Fan smiled and nodded, saying nothing.
News that Ye Fan had entered Yaochi spread across the Northern Dipper. The Eastern Wilderness erupted in a storm of excitement. Many great forces were stirred into action — the masters of all the great sects and powerful organizations set out at once, all wanting to enter Yaochi to pay their respects.
On that one day alone, who could count how many people arrived. The mountain gate of Yaochi nearly burst from the sheer press of people — and for those who were not permitted entry, many simply sat down outside the gate, refusing to leave.
“We beseech you to grant us an audience with the master of the Heavenly Court.”
Everyone was desperate for a glimpse of the Great Completion Holy Physique. Even those who had existed alongside Ye Fan in his own generation now came in the same manner.
The people of Yaochi were greatly troubled. Ye Fan’s standing was now utterly different from what it had been. He was now on par with the great emperors of antiquity — not someone who could simply be visited at will. They feared offending the Great Completion Holy Physique.
Ye Fan let out a long sigh. Time had changed so much. In the old days, the Sacred Daughter of Yaochi could joke and banter with him freely — but now, things had come to this.
It was not just this peerless sacred daughter. Everyone was the same — full of trepidation, their reverence for him taken to the utmost extreme. Standing before him, no one dared breathe too loudly.
This was not the outcome he had wanted — but it could not be changed. At the height of an ancient great emperor, every person could only look up in awe — none would dare profane that presence.
Ye Fan received everyone, and even sat and expounded on the Dao for three days in that place — answering the confusion of all, discussing the methods of cultivation, interpreting the true meaning of the great Dao.
During this time, many more people arrived from other domains beyond. Learning that he was here expounding on the Dao, many powerful figures came with hearts full of reverence, as though on a pilgrimage.
Ye Fan caught sight of some familiar faces — the Great Xia Imperial Prince Xia Yiming, the small white-robed novice nun, and a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to Princess Yudié. He asked, and learned that she was the porcelain doll he had met years ago — Princess Yudié’s child.
“My mother was lost during the great turmoil of darkness…” she said, tears welling up.
Ye Fan heard the words and sighed softly.
Ye Fan sat upon the Dao platform and expounded on the scriptures. Texts of law and principle rained down from the sky, transforming into vast sheets of divine light-rain, moving all who were present deeply, drawing everyone into a state of contemplating the Dao.
Within the gathered crowd, the Phoenix’s expression was complex. She too listened from below — a cultivation height impossible for her to reach in this lifetime. She could only let out a quiet sigh.