Ye Fan lingered here for half a month, meticulously studying the formation arrays, then carefully made additions and rearranged the entire layout, making it even more impenetrable to outsiders.

Most critically of all, he left behind a Heavenly Emperor’s Mark!

He had bestowed upon this array true life — as though he himself stood guard here in person. As long as he lived, short of defeating him in battle, the formation array was simply unbreakable.

Pang Bo gazed at the Immortal Ascension Pool, lost in a dreamy reverie. The pool resembled a ruptured placenta. Had this place truly once nurtured an immortal artifact? It made even him want to lie down inside and try his luck.

“Heaven and earth are truly wondrous and mysterious — an immortal mountain’s ancestral ground can actually gestate immortal artifacts.”

Hearing this, Ye Fan shook his head and said: “Not necessarily. Those times are far too ancient. Who can say for certain? Perhaps the Immortal Bell had already existed long before, forged and refined by someone’s hand, merely buried within Kunlun. The claim that the Revered Emperor caused the immortal mountain to nurture the sacred artifact a second time may simply have been a pretext for artifact refinement.”

“Munch.” Long Ma was the most straightforward — with one bite it chomped off a King-grade herb, swallowed it whole with dazzling light spilling from its mouth, wolfing it down ravenously.

Ye Fan shook his head. This fellow was simply too greedy. In years past it had already consumed several King-grade herbs, long since developing what one might call resistance — they had almost no effect on it anymore, yet it still refused to give up.

“Truly useless now.” Long Ma said sheepishly, then let out a long howl: “Heaven envies the gifted! I haven’t even become an Emperor yet — how can you bear to take me, you wretched sky?!”

It too had begun showing signs of age, like the afternoon sun — no longer at its zenith, growing dimmer with each passing year.

With a thunderous boom, Ye Fan tore open the void, concealing this immortal land within it, as though it had vanished entirely from the mortal world.

He lingered here for several more days, studying formation arrays and comprehending the Great Dao. When he felt he had learned enough, he rose and prepared to depart.

Suddenly, a small white tiger burst out — barely a foot long, fragrant beyond description, with Dao energy curling around it, ten thousand auspicious rays of light shining from its form, utterly mysterious and astounding.

“It’s the Undying Medicine!” Pang Bo exclaimed in shock.

Over these past days, Ye Fan had long since become aware of it. In truth, he had detected traces of its presence on his very first visit here — he simply hadn’t gotten a clear look at it then.

Back then, this divine Undying Medicine had fled in fear like a startled rabbit, unwilling to approach. Yet now it seemed to have made up its mind, stepping forward of its own accord and sending out a faint spiritual ripple, imploring Ye Fan to take it along.

Ye Fan was moved. He too had reached this stage — where an Undying Medicine would willingly follow him.

In ancient times, nearly every Great Emperor kept an Undying Medicine, a companion for life. It was said these herbs harbored world-shaking grand secrets within them.

“Then come along with me.”

The world’s Undying Immortal Medicines were few in number — each one unique and irreplaceable.

This was the renowned White Tiger Divine Medicine. Shaped like a small white tiger, it possessed leaves and stems like any plant, yet its entire form was snow-white as jade, radiant with rosy light, immortal energy rising from it in vapors.

It had long since pulled itself free from the earth and flew over, then disappeared into Ye Fan’s cauldron, hoping the Great Emperor would shelter it so it need not worry about others coveting it.

Ye Fan left the Immortal Ascension Pool. In the surrounding outer region, divine light flashed, and an aged Fleece Flower Root appeared — likewise shimmering with ten thousand auspicious rays. He had encountered it here before as well. It was a half-divine medicine.

In the past, the aged Fleece Flower Root had once told Ye Fan that the Ruthless Great Emperor had come, that an Undying Medicine had wished to follow him but been refused. It had also told him that Rongcheng Shi had come, and that the Ginseng Fruit Tree had later departed with him.

“Can the Great Emperor take me along?” The aged Fleece Flower Root seemed quite excited, never having imagined that the young man it once encountered had now become a Great Emperor! It possessed only a faint spiritual awareness, just like the Undying Medicine — it could not cultivate.

“You need not be this way. Simply reside at the heart of the Immortal Ascension grounds. No one can harm you there.” Ye Fan thought for a moment before saying this, then tore open the void and sent the aged Fleece Flower Root into the precious soil at the very center of the Immortal Ascension land.

He thought of many things. No inheritance in the world endures forever. Should the Heavenly Court one day fall into decline, this place might well become a sanctuary worth retreating to.

He knew there was still a half-divine medicine in Changbai Mountain — the Ancestral Ginseng — yet he paid it no mind and simply departed.

The affairs of his homeland were concluded. Ye Fan severed his ties to the mortal world and ascended to the heavens, never once looking back.

This place held his most precious memories — unforgotten, impossible to erase — yet in the endless years ahead, he would only gaze back at it from the other shore of the starry sky, and only occasionally at that.

At six thousand and five hundred years of age, he was at the height of his power, still ascending — yet those around him had all begun to grow old.

Ye Fan resolved to keep walking forward, following the trail of the heavenly road from those earlier years, visiting the old friends of various lands, for this might well be the last time he would see them.

The Northern Dipper. The Southern Region.

The Spirit Void Cave Heaven still stood, though it had moved to a new location close beside the ruins of the original site.

In those years following the dark upheaval, the Northern Dipper had been torn apart, and much of its mountain terrain had been utterly transformed.

The new location was still modest. The Spirit Void Cave Heaven remained a small sect — but that the inheritance had not perished was the greatest fortune of all. It was here that Ye Fan and Pang Bo had once begun their path of cultivation.

“Master, I’ve come to see you again.” Pang Bo’s nose ached, as he walked into those ruins.

The ruins were dotted with many graves. Though some were quite old, it was clear they had not been left to overgrow — someone came regularly to tend them.

One ancient tomb bore three characters carved upon it: Wu Qingfeng. Pang Bo’s tears fell. That was his true master — the man who had guided Ye Fan onto the path of cultivation.

The old man had been gone for more than six thousand years, yet he was impossible to forget. Though he had died, his name had grown quite large in the Northern Dipper.

For he had once taught a great demon — Pang Bo — and had also been the one who set the Heavenly Emperor upon his path. Thus, though the Spirit Void Cave Heaven was small, its name had spread far and wide.

The Spirit Void Cave Heaven’s ability to reestablish itself after the dark upheaval was entirely due to the Mistress of Yao Guang — Weiwei — for she too had once come from this small sect. This was yet another reason the little inheritance carried such a legendary air.

The Spirit Void Cave Heaven had never been home to any great powerhouse — yet those who walked out from within it were breathtakingly extraordinary: two Quasi-Emperors, and one Heavenly Emperor. It had shaken the world of men.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo did not enter the Spirit Void Cave Heaven, for there was no one left they knew. Generation after generation had long since died away many years past.

Ye Fan came to the Yao Guang Sacred Ground. The moment he stepped inside, Weiwei was alerted — for she had now reached a level where her abilities approached the workings of creation itself, placing her among the most powerful beings in the world.

“Heavenly Emperor Ye, Brother Pang.” Weiwei came out to receive them personally — a gesture that naturally astonished many people there. Few in this world could move their founding ancestor to do this. When they learned that a Heavenly Emperor had arrived, every single one of them trembled.

The Yao Guang Sacred Ground of today was glorious beyond compare — sacred mountains rose one after another, ten thousand streams of auspicious energy flowed, clouds and rosy vapors billowed in abundance. It was like a paradise of immortals, in full and magnificent bloom.

Weiwei possessed a pair of Immortal Spirit Eyes, said to be capable of seeing through the road to immortality. Naturally, after they were seated, the conversation turned to this matter. She was not one to conceal things and said: “It’s a shame the immortal road will not open again for another million years — otherwise, I could use these eyes to lend Brother Ye a hand.”

“There is an old matter I wish to ask the Sacred Master about.” Ye Fan said, raising a certain affair from long ago.

Weiwei gave a nod, tore open the void, and revealed a prison. Inside it sat a disheveled old man — a Great Sage.

“He received a portion of the Ruthless Great Emperor’s inheritance. He taught Yao Guang, and also taught Hua Yunfei. He has dwelt within our lineage’s sacred ground.” Weiwei spoke, revealing his identity. In those earlier years he had not been this powerful — it was only after the great transformation of heaven and earth that he gradually broke through. And there had been more than one of them. All the other ancient relics had long since passed into nirvana, and now only this one remained.

“It was he who lent the Dragon-Patterned Black Gold Cauldron to the Night Monarch, intending to use it to assassinate Divine King Jiang in the Northern Region’s Divine City.” Weiwei revealed the details of this old affair.

She was a woman of extraordinary skill and unparalleled talent — by her own efforts alone, she had swept clean the undercurrents within Yao Guang, leveling everything, and taken command of all.

When they had traveled far from the Yao Guang Sacred Ground, Pang Bo said: “I imagine she has by now incorporated some of the Ruthless Great Emperor’s methods as well?”

“Whether she has or hasn’t matters little now.” Ye Fan replied.

He walked into the Grand Mystery Gate. This sect too had been reestablished. The original mountain gate had long since been destroyed, and they went directly to the newly built Clumsy Peak. To their surprise, they encountered Elder Li Ruoyu there.

Li Ruoyu spent most of his time wandering the world and rarely returned. Since that parting long ago, Ye Fan had never seen him again — this was an unexpected delight.

“My respects, Senior.” Even as a Heavenly Emperor, Ye Fan showed him great courtesy, for he had once received immense kindness from him.

Li Ruoyu was only a few hundred years older than him, so his remaining lifespan was still quite ample. Their lineage believed in deep accumulation before advancement, laying an extraordinarily solid foundation in the Dao. Now Elder Li Ruoyu had reached the Quasi-Emperor realm. Though he had not yet stood at the absolute pinnacle, no one dared look down upon him — for people knew he would reach the summit sooner or later.

Ding dong…

In the distance, atop a mountain peak, zither notes rang out like flowing water. A hundred birds gathered as if in tribute to a phoenix, white petals drifted and danced. There stood a man — his hair white as snow, otherworldly and transcendent — playing a melody of immortal music.

“Hua Yunfei!” Pang Bo’s eyebrow twitched.

Ye Fan shook his head. That was Hua Yunfei’s younger brother — though the face was the same, the name the same, the inclinations the same, he was ultimately a different person.

Perhaps even the heavens themselves felt sorrow for that transcendent man, and so caused another flower of the same kind to bloom.

Many years had passed, and he had entered the Dao through the zither, reaching even the Great Sage realm. Though this life of his was not a glorious one, his heart was at peace, tranquil and content.

Ye Fan sighed, rose to his feet, said farewell to Elder Li Ruoyu, and departed.

The ruins of the Ji Family were still there, with a portion of the clan members remaining. Ye Fan unexpectedly encountered Ji Biyue — most of their clanspeople who had relocated had never returned, dwelling instead on another ancient star.

In the Southern Region, there was hardly anyone left from those years. The Mad Old Man, the Crow Daoist, the Peacock King, Nangong Zheng — all had long since passed into nirvana… all buried by the passage of time.

At last, Ye Fan passed by the Carefree Gate, where he saw the young powerhouse who had once ranked second only to Hua Yunfei — Li Youyou. But she had aged, with little time remaining.

Such a reunion left Li Youyou with nothing but a soft sigh. Who could have imagined that Ye Fan would become a Heavenly Emperor? In those years she, Ji Biyue, and others had once hunted Ye Fan, all coveting his cauldron.

She knew Ye Fan, as a Heavenly Emperor, would no longer hold those things against her — yet the knowledge still left her filled with a wistful sense of loss.

“An era is about to fall silent. Are you here to see us off?” She let out a long, quiet sigh. What else was there to say?

Ye Fan passed through the Central Region, where he caught sight of Feng Huang, Mistress of the Wind Clan — glimpsed from afar, her hair had turned white as snow. When their eyes met again, they exchanged only a nod. Each understood — this should be the last time they would meet in this life. Beauty fades, hair turns white; time is merciless.

The Wind Clan was still fairly strong, and under Feng Huang’s leadership these years had been reasonably glorious — yet when her clanspeople caught sight of Ye Fan, their reverence was boundless.

With a turn, Ye Fan was already standing upon the earth of the Northern Region.