Suddenly, Ye Fan fixed his gaze upon the cosmic void ahead. His mind and spirit stirred — he sensed something. With both hands, he parted heaven and earth apart and stepped into a realm of chaotic immortal soil.

This place was serene and tranquil, with a small Daoist monastery within it. The moment he entered, he caught the scent of a penetrating fragrance — the immortality elixir. He walked slowly inside, his expression shifting with surprise.

A ginseng fruit tree had taken root within the monastery, its branches heavy with several human-shaped fruits of snow-white color — lustrous, translucent, and fragrant.

“Celestial Emperor.” An aged voice reached him.

Beneath the human ginseng tree, some immortal source and divine source had sealed away a group of people. Only a few young attendants had not been sealed, and seeing him now, they did not know what to do.

“Rongcheng Shi.” Ye Fan sighed softly. He had not expected that here, at last, he would meet this legendary figure — heard of for so long, yet seen for the very first time today.

And not only him — there was also a group of Qi refiners, all of them renowned figures. Among them was Ge Hong, who had attained the Dao by unconventional means, along with a number of other important figures from the Qi refiners of the pre-Qin era, all of whom had lived hidden away in this realm of chaotic immortal soil.

After a thorough conversation — sitting through the entire night — Ye Fan rose and took his leave. He had obtained one crucial piece of information here: the Dao Harmony Flower had originally grown at Kunlun Mountain, before taking flight into the sky and vanishing without a trace.

Ye Fan went to Kunlun Mountain and, using that place as his starting point, began his deductions — seeking to track it down. But after years of searching, he returned at last disappointed.

Wandering aimlessly through the starry sky, on this day a region of space erupted with startled cries — the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin had reappeared. Yet no one could pursue it, and no one could draw near.

Ye Fan’s expression stirred. He crossed over countless star systems and descended from on high — and at last saw once more those nine black dragon forms, and that enormous ancient bronze coffin.

“The Celestial Emperor!”

People cried out.

The ancient coffin was shrouded in mist and haze, its surface covered in carved runes — and now it had come back to life, which was why the world had been unable to draw near or catch it.

Ye Fan descended from the sky and alighted upon the coffin. In his heart welled up endless emotion. All of it had started with this very coffin — it was because of it that he had been able to roam the cosmos for so many years.

Those several hundred ancient characters, each one a god-grade inscription — a form of supreme truth — he had long since comprehended them all after becoming Celestial Emperor. And now, sitting here, he remained still for a long time, listening with full attention to the scripture sounds once again rising from within the coffin.

Among those several hundred ancient characters, every one was a god-grade inscription encoding a supreme principle — but among them, half of the god-grade inscriptions spoke not of cultivation matters at all, but rather of the construction and deduction of the immortal domain.

It was precisely through these, together with the fragmentary information contained within the immortality elixir, that Ye Fan had deduced that something had gone gravely wrong within the immortal domain.

Ye Fan entered the coffin. Xiaosong was curious, and shielded in a radiance of light, its bright, round eyes wide and curious, it followed along inside to take a look.

Within the enormous bronze coffin lay a small coffin placed crosswise. Now the scripture sounds ceased, and it was utterly silent — as though all the ancient cosmos had been laid to rest here.

Ye Fan approached, and slowly, with great deliberateness, lifted the lid of this small coffin. At once, chaotic qi billowed outward, immortal light flooding in all directions — and he was so astounded that his eyes went wide.

“So that is how it is!”

He gave a soft exclamation — one that contained far, far too much within it.

Then he closed the coffin lid, turned, tore open the cosmos, sent out a thread of his primordial spirit, appeared within the ancient forbidden zone, and called out to the female emperor — requesting that she come for a conversation.

In the next moment, not only did the female emperor arrive — Xiao Nannan also disappeared into her brow, fusing and becoming one with her.

“I had already opened this coffin before — and afterward commanded the Great Completion Sacred Physique to fling it away.” The female emperor said calmly.

Even as a Celestial Emperor, Ye Fan was left dazed for a moment. In all this world, only the Ruthless Great Emperor would dare act in such a fashion. That manner and bearing left him not knowing what to say.

Of course — he understood now. In those years, the female emperor had not sought to become an immortal. She had wanted only to remain in the mortal world, waiting for that person to return. Casting the coffin away had been perfectly natural.

“Now I invite the Great Emperor to look at this together with me.”

The female emperor said nothing — only gazed at him quietly.

Ye Fan opened the ancient coffin once more. Chaotic mist flowed outward, immortal light billowed in all directions — peaceful and serene beyond measure. Xiaosong stretched its great round eyes wide to peer inside — and this time, at last, it saw clearly. What lay within was a world.

There were no remains within the coffin. No one was there. What existed was a mysterious realm in which immortal light turned and flowed. To step inside would be to feel its boundless and infinite vastness.

“Could the so-called immortal domain be within this coffin?” He thought of those several hundred ancient characters — half of which spoke of constructing and evolving an immortal domain.

“All the immortals perished. The immortal domain suffered damage, severed from this realm. The Huang Tian Great Emperor wished to evolve the immortal domain — to fully construct that world.” Clearly, the female emperor knew more than Ye Fan.

Ye Fan and the female emperor discoursed on the Dao, sitting cross-legged within the coffin for several days — speaking of longevity, of the immortal and undying, of the immortal path. Now standing at the same height, they could illuminate and confirm each other’s insights.

In times past, this bronze coffin had not been able to enter the immortal domain — that world had not been repaired. It had remained stranded in the human world.

“Boom!”

From deep within the cosmos, a tremendous sound reached them. The great duel between the two prodigies came to its conclusion. Ye Yishui emerged victorious. The young man formed from the five-colored Divine Phoenix was cleaved down by him and was on the verge of perishing. At the critical moment, the immortal cascade reappeared — a snow-white jade-like hand descended. The Undying Celestial Emperor rescued his son.

His mastery over the immortal cascade had grown more terrifyingly precise — he could now manifest it at any time.

“Boom!”

In that instant, Ye Fan and the Ruthless Great Emperor both moved simultaneously — striking out with a fist and a palm toward the immortal cascade.

The Undying Celestial Emperor brought his son into that world, and then actually came forward on his own initiative — each meeting one of their palms with a palm of his own.

In an instant, heaven and earth collapsed. Ghosts wailed and gods mourned. Half the immortal cascade was shattered. The Undying Celestial Emperor acted in this way for one purpose alone: to measure just how terrifying these two had become.

“I request the Great Emperor’s assistance — to jointly deduce where the Dao Harmony Flower may be found.” Ye Fan requested.

“It is within this coffin.” The female emperor said calmly.

“What?” Ye Fan’s heart gave a sharp lurch.

“Long ago, I placed it within this coffin — I had prepared it for you, but it was not to be for you.” The female emperor’s grace and beauty defied all ages — yet her expression in that moment made anyone who saw it feel their own heart ache.

Ye Fan understood. The Ruthless Great Emperor had obtained the Dao Harmony Flower, wanting to give it to the one she waited for — but that person had a Sacred Physique, which made it very difficult to attain emperorship, so she had prepared it for him. Then, upon encountering this “similar flower” in Ye Fan, knowing that sooner or later he would come to seek out this ancient bronze coffin, she had — at the time she commanded the Great Completion Sacred Physique to cast the bronze coffin into the depths of the abyss — already placed the flower within.

Ye Fan felt a pang of guilt and expressed his gratitude.

Then the female emperor suddenly said: “It is not you — yet if I were to pour his past experiences into your sea of consciousness, it would not be impossible to reproduce him anew. Perhaps then it would be you.”

Yet in the end, she did not make a move. Ye Fan stood there in a daze.

The cosmos grew still. The Nine Dragons and the bronze coffin were brought back by Ye Fan to the Heavenly Court — and by his side there was now also a Xiao Nannan, rosy-cheeked and adorable, returning alongside him.

The cosmos was at peace. Ye Yishui had attained the Dao, and it was very difficult to seal him away again. Ye Fan had no choice but to seal him within the incomplete immortal domain inside the bronze coffin, entrusting him with the care of Xiaosong.

And Ye Fan himself had changed his decision as well. He would become an immortal right here within the mortal world.

The years turned. In the five-hundred-and-twenty-thousandth year of the Celestial Emperor’s reign, Ye Fan gathered all Nine Mysteries together. Though they were of little further use to him now, they still held some small reference value. In the end, he merged them into one — and a world-shaking power was released, more powerful than even his forbidden techniques.

“It seems I still have some road left to walk. Since an ancient figure once said that the Nine Mysteries combined are undefeated throughout ancient and modern times — clearly, that figure also reached this step.” Ye Fan knew: that figure was the Sovereign Emperor.

Though many tens of thousands of years before, Ye Fan had already reached this point without relying on the Nine Mysteries — he felt that the road could still be advanced further. He would tread all the way to the very limit of its end.

In the five-hundred-and-fifty-thousandth year of the Celestial Emperor’s reign, Ye Fan’s eighth lifetime had, in principle, reached its end. Yet he did not undergo any transformation. The years no longer flowed upon him — and there was no sign of him passing into stillness.

That year, he encountered Duan De. In nearly every lifetime, he would either receive Duan De or see this disreputable Daoist off on his final journey. Duan De wept and wailed through consecutive lifetimes, lamenting that his luck had been terrible for eight lifetimes in a row — a grave robber across multiple lives, and now a malevolent ghost that had latched onto him.

In the six-hundred-thousandth year of the Celestial Emperor’s reign, Ye Fan was very old — yet his vitality was not extinguished, and he remained at this stage without moving. It was as though he had truly come to exist alongside the world itself.

At this point, the entire world sighed. The Celestial Emperor was one of a kind — the only person since the dawn of time to have walked to this step.

He was a singular, exceptional individual.

Yet Ye Fan himself did not think of it this way. In his view, the Ruthless Great Emperor, the Beginningless Great Emperor, and the Undying Celestial Emperor had all reached this same step — and that Duan De, if all nine seals of the Nine Daos Reincarnation were gathered together, would perhaps also become an immortal within the red dust.

In the six-hundred-and-forty-thousandth year of the Celestial Emperor’s reign, Ye Fan underwent another transformation — deliberately so. He wanted to elevate his state to its most absolute peak and remain there forever.

His ninth lifetime began.

Just as he had predicted — the years left almost no traces upon his body now. He remained at the appearance of a man of around twenty years old. His black hair was thick and dense. His body gleamed with crystalline light. His frame was tall and imposing as he gazed down over the vast world.

In the seven-hundred-and-twenty-thousandth year of the Celestial Emperor’s reign, Ye Fan still had not changed — still as young as ever. Throughout these many tens of thousands of years, he had forged nine cauldrons — crafted from Immortal Tear Green Gold, Eternal Blue Gold, Phoenix Blood Red Gold, Dragon Pattern Black Gold, Divine Marking Purple Gold, Dao Tribulation Yellow Gold… each from a different variety of immortal gold.

In truth, Ye Fan had also found the scattered fragments of the Sovereign Emperor’s green cauldron — yet he did not reassemble it. His expression had been oddly complex when, bringing those fragments, he visited the ancient forbidden zone and engaged in a long discussion with the Ruthless Great Emperor.

Ye Fan merged the nine divine gold cauldrons into one — smelting them into a nine-colored divine cauldron, which became an immortal artifact.

At last, through his supreme divine abilities, he caused the nine-colored immortal cauldron to merge with the Ten Thousand Things Progenitor Cauldron — two cauldrons becoming one, forming an astonishing supreme immortal artifact.

That year, the Ruthless Great Emperor also made her move. First she summoned Xiao Nannan back — fusing them together as one — then donned a ghost-face mask: neither weeping nor laughing, smiling yet bearing traces of tears — the very one that had been buried at Kunlun in those ancient times. And she took back from Ye Fan’s hands the bronze finger ring.

Beneath the abyss of the ancient forbidden zone, the Bronze Immortal Palace broke apart. And a sword of immortal quality also shattered — two streams of pure essence and immortal energy surging into the mask and the bronze ring, evolving into supreme immortal objects.

Her methods were world-shaking — a true transformation of the rotten into the miraculous.

This lifetime had no more attachments — or perhaps there was one other: after becoming an immortal, to see whether that person could awaken. She wanted to watch Ye Fan enter the immortal domain — and she, too, was ready to bid farewell to the mortal world.

Those who understood knew: they were about to wage war on the immortal road. In truth, they could already be called immortals within the mortal world.

In this lifetime, Ye Fan lifted all the seals and invited every powerful figure within the Heavenly Court to emerge. He would open a new era.

Tens of years later, when all was ready, Ye Fan stood atop ten thousand Daos, sheltering a group of supreme experts as they attained emperorship.

He could already seal ten thousand Daos — and could also stand against the immortals born from the immortality elixir within the tribulation. Amid rolling thunder, an immortal legend began.

The Sacred Ape Prince, Dao Yi, Zhang Bairen, the Six-Eared Macaque, Ye Tong, Yang Xi, Huahua, Jiang Tingting, the Divine Child, Ye Xian… every last one of them appeared together.

The number who were to attain the Dao was not one or two — it was an entire group. An unprecedented miracle, shaking the entire great cosmos to its foundations.

Xiaosong also returned. With the aid of the Dao Harmony Flower, he regained his peak and became once more a Great Emperor.

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled. Had no one been there to shield this region of the cosmos, it would have been completely destroyed. Ye Fan summoned the female emperor to protect every domain.

The punishment of the heavens blazed without end, pouring down in a torrent of annihilation. Ye Fan stood against the immortals born from the undying divine medicines within the tribulation, sweeping all before him — no longer capable of being struck down, but striking them down one by one in turn. From this, he gained an even deeper understanding of many hidden secrets.

He sheltered ten thousand Daos, causing them to pulse in unison — and in the end, guided an entire group of people successfully to emperorship.

So many Great Emperors emerging at once truly shook the cosmos to its depths. A supremely glorious era arrived. A host of emperors arose together. Ten thousand Daos rumbled and rang out — shaking ancient and present times alike into the boundless future.