The one consolation was this: in the current age there was a powerfully dominant Holy Physique, Ye Fan, who had once cut down an ancient Celestial Sovereign at the peak of his Sublimation. He now reigned supreme over the mortal world, invincible in all directions. He was a person of this very age, his blood and vitality surging like an ocean, pressing down upon the entire cosmos of stellar rivers — in the prime of his strength. This was a far greater advantage than the ancient emperor-realm figures, and none dared to exhaust themselves fighting him to the last. Perhaps he could hold all the emperors in check through sheer awe.
But even this was only a small comfort. Most people were still trembling. After all, there was only one Holy Physique — yet the ancient supreme figures were of unknown number.
“Is this battle truly coming? Immortality — once again immortality — how many lives have you ruined!”
“I despise the Golden Age of Flourishing. I despise this immortal road. I despise every Dao-Attainment being — you all deserve to die!”
In every corner of the world, many people hurled curses, a desolate wind of sorrow gusting everywhere. Many people lived in fear. The great turmoil of darkness had left wounds in people that had still not truly healed.
Countless generations of mortal folk had come and gone, but no small number of cultivators had lived through that age — many having lost family members, their pain raw and bleeding even now.
“I hope that in this life the Immortal Ascension Star will explode, becoming the greatest cursed wasteland in all of history, burying every supreme figure, putting an end to the dark turmoil of the human world forever.” A white-haired elder cried these words, his tears blood-red.
When battles broke out on the road to immortality, if the supreme figures died, that was one thing — but if they needed to replenish life essence because of the tribulation they faced, then the burden would be something beyond all bearing, for the past had held far too much blood and pain.
“When the immortal road flourishes, those at the bottom who cultivate suffer. When the immortal road declines, those who cultivate at the bottom also suffer.”
People sighed deeply. The visions and hopes of the supreme figures had nothing to do with those who cultivated below — any upheaval that came would, in the end, fall upon the weak.
The Immortal Ascension Star had changed — without truly revealing the full extent of its mysteries, the cosmos had already grown restless.
Never before in any age had it been like this — less than a thousand years apart, and now a second great turmoil of the immortal road was about to occur. This opened a path never before trodden in all of ancient history. In the eyes of the cultivators below, this was the greatest demonic tribulation in recorded history.
Having experienced pain, having lived through it personally, having once faced seas of blood and bones — those people still trembled to think of it. So the moment the first signs appeared, the great powerful races began to move in a frantic migration.
They could not endure another great tribulation!
Which stellar domain was most desolate, which was most barren, which was most cut off from all things — these became their destinations. An unprecedented great migration across the cosmos began to take shape.
Many ancient lands of life: the powerful races who had lived there were gone — departed for the desolate edges of the cosmos, entering dead star systems that no foot had ever touched. The cosmos first fell into chaos.
The Heavenly Court was not in a panic. Despite all manner of rumors circulating in the outside world, things there proceeded in an orderly way. All was stable. No one’s heart was seized with great terror and dread.
Perhaps the Holy Physique Ye Fan could not guard over the entire cosmos — but guarding the Heavenly Court was enough. Every heavenly soldier and general believed this completely. The road ahead would not grow dark.
Only the Heavenly Court’s upper echelon held a trace of tension. For the Black Emperor, Dongfang Ye, Li Tian, and the others all knew — Ye Fan carried a weight in his heart: for his close friend Ji Zi, for the one as heavy as a father to him, Jiang Taixu, for the one called Bai Jiuyou — he had always missed them, unable to forget. He would certainly seek his vengeance.
In particular, upon learning that the Stone Emperor was still alive, Ye Fan had spent a hundred years sitting in stillness, gazing into the distance toward the Northern Dipper’s Undying Mountain. Everyone knew that once the battle began, he would charge straight there and seize whatever opportunity arose to cut the Stone Emperor down.
“I have already prepared myself for battle,” Ye Fan said. “But before that, I wish to open up ten great sanctuaries for you all — places no one can discover or break through. The Heavenly Court will divide into ten branches, each retreating into one.”
The assembled crowd sighed. They knew his resolve was set. He would go and fight — and the opponents he might ultimately face were not merely one ancient supreme figure. It would be a great conflict and bloody war on the level of the great emperors themselves.
“Do not worry,” Ye Fan said. “I will come back alive. Because I absolutely cannot die. I have said it before — the vast and sweeping battle picture I painted has not yet been fully unrolled. It will be realized, no matter what!”
Ye Fan made this promise — and it was the truth. He truly could not die. Were he to fall, many people would die because of it. The Forbidden Zone descendants would set out to slaughter every branch and unit of the Heavenly Court in an open bloodbath. As long as he lived, it was itself a form of deterrence — and they had to keep pushing forward to protect everything they had.
“My lord,” Gu Lin and Gu Fei came forward. Nearly a thousand years had passed, and this pair of siblings had become the most mysterious divine calculators in the Heavenly Court. “We have a feeling in our hearts — we sense this tribulation of the Immortal Ascension Star will be something exceptional. Yet we dare not attempt to calculate deeply.”
“You have sensed it too?” Ye Fan replied. The siblings were truly gifted in extraordinary ways. In recent days he too had been making inferences, for he held mastery of the Preceding Secret Art, hoping that a flash of inspiration might allow him to glimpse a corner of what was to come. He had been trying to catch it, always feeling that this time would be something extraordinary.
Hearing them say this, the others were also shaken. The Black Emperor had pondered this for a long while — but regrettably, he who had once been the most spiritually perceptive of all had, in the previous incident when light had blazed from his brow as if on fire, exhausted his ability to divine the unknown. He could no longer use the Preceding Secret Art to calculate anything.
“Use your gifts without fear — attempt the calculation. I will bear the weight of any terrible consequence that follows,” Ye Fan said, having deliberated carefully.
His cultivation had reached this level. He had the confidence to face it — to resist even the most terrifying tribulation in this world. Under his protection, within a certain range, he could transfer the karmic weight and consequence from others onto himself.
“Will that be dangerous?” Li Tian, Li Heishui, and the others all furrowed their brows, afraid something might go wrong for him.
“Don’t worry. However terrible it proves, it will be nothing more than the mightiest single strike of a great emperor. That cannot stop me,” Ye Fan said calmly.
Gu Fei and Gu Lin looked at one another. In the end, encouraged by Ye Fan, they stilled their minds and hearts, sat down upon the shell of a great white tortoise, face to face — like the embodiment of yin and yang — and began their divination.
They were themselves spiritually attuned children. Yin and yang standing in opposition, mutually dispersing each other’s tribulation — and now with Ye Fan’s promise behind them, they could set aside all fear and begin without restraint.
Everyone moved far away, leaving the expanse of this isolated island floating in the cosmos, fog swirling and rising, a mysterious aura of energy manifesting. This place became a stretch of primordial chaos.
The white tortoise shell was something Ye Fan had found two hundred years prior, during a journey through the chaotic cosmos. It was suspected to be the shed casing left behind by the Mysterious Tortoise before it had attained the Dao — carrying a power of unknown origin.
Now, streams of milky-white light flowed through it, interweaving with the chaos energy and submerging the two siblings within. One by one, runes lit up across the surface of the tortoise shell, becoming mysterious scriptures that arranged themselves across this place.
Gu Fei and Gu Lin were not only activating their own divination gifts — they were also running the Preceding Secret Art. The two communed with the heart of the Dao of heaven and earth, and before their eyes appeared a sheet of undulating light, as though a blurred corner of the future had been brought into view.
Indeed — even Ye Fan himself sensed the spread of a future aura.
“Boom!”
At the very center of the vault of heaven, a streak of primordial immortal light came crashing down, entangled with five-colored divine mist, flowing with the essence of chaos — terrifying in its power. It then gathered the thunder and lightning of the Eight Wastelands and covered all below it in shadow.
The crowd was aghast. This was a great emperor’s divine tribulation — heavenly lightning absolutely capable of wounding an ancient emperor.
It was difficult for anyone to imagine what Gu Lin and Gu Fei had seen that had brought down such a tribulation — to use it to strike down these two, whose cultivation was not particularly high, seemed far in excess of what was warranted.
“Rise!”
Amid the endless imperial tribulation, Ye Fan let out a thunderous shout. His Divine Manifestation opened wide, sheltering this sacred island, protecting the siblings. He redirected everything — drawing all of the tribulation’s force upon himself.
Heaven and earth cracked apart. The cosmos seemed on the verge of running dry. Ye Fan’s fist force surged to the heavens as he met the supreme divine tribulation head-on, striking it apart.
Fortunately, this great tribulation was only a single blow brought down by the heavens as a matter of course — it was not a boundless, inexhaustible imperial punishment without end or limit.
When the light dispersed, the sacred island was unharmed. But the white surface of the mysterious tortoise shell was now covered in many cracks — and when the others who came rushing back afterward saw that sight, they were shaken to their core. Yet when they saw that the pale-faced Gu Fei and Gu Lin were unharmed, they finally let out a breath of relief.
“What did you see?” the Black Emperor asked. The others were equally tense, watching the two siblings.
“Vast and murky — extremely blurred. Many light-shadows, but impossible to see clearly. It is a section of the future that cannot be foreseen,” Gu Fei said, his face without a drop of blood.
“Yes — the future cannot be foreseen,” Gu Lin said as well.
The crowd was stunned and baffled. They had not even managed to foresee anything before this had happened to them? And such a tribulation had been brought down — it was terrifying beyond measure. The road ahead set every heart ill at ease!
“Crash!”
Suddenly, the white mysterious tortoise shell shattered — breaking apart piece by piece and scattering across the sacred island.
The island was unharmed — yet it had broken apart? Even Ye Fan was startled. This was the suspected shed casing of a supreme figure before their attainment of the Dao — indestructible and imperishable. Yet it had disintegrated just like that.
“This is… a Divine Armor — the supreme sacred object of primordial divination. It has calculated the future!” The siblings both cried out suddenly.
They had read it from the shattered tortoise shell fragments. They had glimpsed a corner of what was to come — and they were deeply shaken, their very lips trembling.
“What is it?” everyone pressed.
“This… there will be a great tribulation. Some of the most powerful emperors and sovereign figures will die!” These words sent a shock through every heart present. As expected — another brutal and devastating battle.
“And what else?” Hua Hua asked.
“This age will see immortals! Someone will become immortal!” Gu Lin and Gu Fei cried out, speaking aloud the ultimate secret they had glimpsed.
At just these words alone, as though a tremendous thunderclap rang out across the entire cosmos — ten thousand ancient vaults of heaven trembling violently — countless cultivators across all the world lifted their heads in bafflement toward the sky, lost in confusion.
An immortal had ascended — in this age, someone was going to transcend to immortality, and it would happen upon that star of the same name. The news was heaven-shattering, shaking the Heavenly Court — even Ye Fan himself fell into a brief, stunned reverie.
Through all of antiquity and up to the present day, how many human emperors, how many sovereigns of the great races had been seeking immortality — trying to break into that other world, to shatter the barrier and ask after undying life? All had failed.
And now someone was saying: in this age, someone would transcend to immortality, and would succeed. How could this not be staggering beyond all measure?
The first such achievement in all of ancient history!
A miracle was about to occur — heaven and earth were about to witness an immortal. This was an event of record-setting, history-making proportions, something that had never once come to pass!
The Heavenly Court erupted in an uproar, shaken to the core. Every person was swept up in a surge of excitement. In the not-too-distant future, the greatest opportunity for immortality was about to manifest — and if one could seize it, history would be made!
“This time, the great tribulation of the Immortal Ascension Star has gone beyond all my expectations,” Ye Fan said softly. He felt it necessary to change his strategy. If there was truly a hope of immortality, he naturally had to bring the many branches of the Heavenly Court along.
“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”
In the ancient Immortal Ascension Star’s central sealed ground, stone monument after stone monument rose up from beneath the earth, standing erect above the surface — tall, imposing, mysteriously ancient.
Across their surfaces, dense and countless — words engraved upon them, belonging to no known era, impossible to decipher.
“Is this a mausoleum of immortals and demons — can one punch through into the immortal realm from here?” An ethereal phantom of an ancient supreme figure appeared, having arrived in advance to this place.