From here, a hundred million li through the starry sky, heading for the other shore — the journey was long, filled with the unknown. In the darkness, Ye Fan radiated boundless light, enveloping the child Huahua within it, for there was no air in this void, making breathing impossible — only divine power could sustain them.
This was a journey that could not leave the heart still. Even those with cultivation as deep as the holy knight and Long Ma felt their emotions surge — even they were traveling through the starry sky for the very first time, to say nothing of Zhang Qingyang and Long Yuxuan.
“Master, what is the Northern Dipper’s star domain like? Can we truly meet sages of other races?”
“Why was the path to immortality set to open there? How did the ancient great emperors all come to be concentrated on a single ancient star? What will we encounter when we arrive?”
…
Zhang Qingyang and Long Yuxuan were inwardly tense and uneasy. Some of these questions had been asked many times already, yet they raised them again now.
Over a decade had passed, and they had already cultivated to the first level of the Immortal Terrace while on Earth. One could imagine how much faster they would have progressed had they been in the Northern Dipper. Given their natural gifts, they would absolutely have been capable of overawing an entire region.
On this starroad, the passage of time was chaotic and disorienting. At times it dragged on so long it nearly drove one to madness, as if it had stopped entirely. At others it seemed to flash by in an instant — as if thousands of years had already hurried past.
If not for their constant exchange through divine sense, this would have been an absolutely silent journey. There was no sound whatsoever; only occasionally would a stream of light flash past, brilliant as fireworks.
“Ah — we’ve arrived!”
No one knew how long had passed. Ahead, starlight glittered brilliantly, and they came to the end of this starroad, lending some substance to the darkness and void, adding a trace of color.
A violent tremor — space twisted. The ancient road was worn and weathered, colors of every kind flashing. They had reached the first stop on the journey and tumbled out from the void.
Among them, only Ye Fan had any real experience in such matters. Every pore on his body radiated light, auspicious energy surging abundantly. He covered all of them within his cauldron as a precaution.
“Pop!”
A faint sound — the ancient starroad behind them vanished. They found themselves on a desolate star, gazing out upon a scene dead and lifeless as far as the eye could see. The air was thin, with no sign of life.
“What is this place?” They looked up at the starry sky, then scanned their surroundings.
There was no moon in the sky above, but the river of stars blazed brilliantly, pouring down vast sheets of white light. This star seemed to be very close to every other great star, as if a single leap could carry one to the other shore.
They could not determine their star position, for the same star system seen from different planets would appear entirely different. Not knowing where they were — this was the truest description of their situation at this moment. This was not a life-bearing ancient star; they could not survive here long, and they needed to find a way forward quickly.
“There is certainly a small five-colored divine altar on this star, and it cannot be too far away. Let us search for it.” Ye Fan said.
This was not their destination — merely a stop along the journey. In this desolate place, devoid of any trace of life, what lay ahead was a vast desert, with yellow sand shimmering brilliantly under the starlight.
“The breath of a divine spring!” Ye Fan showed a look of surprise, having sensed an unusual energy.
They flew forward rapidly, like several flashes of lightning, plunging into the depths of the sea of sand. Before long, everyone showed an expression of astonishment, for they had spotted a towering structure.
“A pyramid!” Zhang Qingyang’s face was one of utter disbelief. Could this be the object of worship of the ancient Egyptians? Vaguely, he had a sense that something was off.
This structure was a pure white all over, gleaming and glistening under the starlight. When they drew close, everyone drew a sharp breath — the sight was far too horrifying.
This was a pyramid constructed entirely of crystalline white bones. Though the bones had been polished smooth and inscribed with primordial principles, they still bore all the marks of ages past, evidently of considerable age.
Skulls, arm bones, spinal bones — every kind was present, built into this bizarre bone tower, towering and massive, rising a hundred meters or more, standing in the desert, enduring the passage of time without being buried by drifting sand.
Not only human skulls, but the remains of other races as well. What Xuan Chi had said was true — in that long-past river of time, all manner of great battles had taken place, with unknown creatures attacking Hangu Pass, leaving behind many skeletons along the road.
“There is a living creature in the bone tower!” The holy knight said.
Ye Fan nodded as well. The breath of a divine spring also emanated from within the tower. The number of creatures in this desert was not small — no fewer than several hundred.
A soft rustling sound approached. Throughout the desert around them, long lines appeared, rising from the ground like enormous snakes, rushing toward them with great speed.
Long Ma raised a hoof and stamped down squarely on the one that lunged forward first. A metallic clang rang out — then came the sound of shattering, and a liquid burst forth.
“What kind of creature is this?” They were all taken aback.
Across the wilderness, undulating waves of sand surged. Dozens upon hundreds of thick water-vat-sized protrusions appeared, rushing forward quickly, simultaneously launching beams of scarlet light — a hundred blades of light slashed down.
The group flew up into the high sky together. Long Ma let out a long neigh, shaking violently in the thin air and ripping apart heaven and earth, flipping over this stretch of sandy ground, exposing the creatures hidden beneath the yellow sand.
What emerged were several hundred creatures resembling enormous ants, each one more than three meters long, their entire bodies like red coral carvings, possessed of immense strength sufficient to crack the void. They all took to the air and hurled themselves in an attack.
“Strange indeed — what kind of creature is this, surviving in an environment like this? What do they subsist on?”
“There are divine springs here. They have survived through them. They are likely not native to this star — they are creatures trapped here.” Ye Fan said.
The holy knight made his move. With one hand covering the sky, he enveloped everything below, and with one sweeping motion, every single one of those bull-sized enormous ants let out the sound of shattering metal as they died.
Not a single one of the several hundred giant ants escaped — all crumbled and fell like so much dust.
“There is a big one.” Long Ma said. It brought one hoof down against the pyramid built of white bones. With a thunderous boom and a burst of blazing light, a colossal creature broke free.
This ant was over ten meters long, its entire body a vivid, translucent crimson, radiating rays of rosy light. A gentle tremor from it shattered the void — with the strength to uproot mountains. This was its innate divine ability, bestowed by its bloodline.
“What race are you? Where do you come from? Why do you attack us?” Ye Fan demanded.
This enormous creature was filled with hatred. It moved with extreme speed and in an instant arrived at the summit of the sky, confronting them with cold hostility.
“Humans… deserve death!” It transmitted this mental impulse, and then it attacked.
“These are likely remnants of one of the clans who attacked Hangu Pass in ages long past, some of the small fry who survived. There is nothing more to be said — cut them down cleanly.” Ye Fan said.
Again the holy knight made his move. This time he held the dragon spear, and with a single stride he covered over ten li. He raised the spear and thrust — the spear’s shaft unadorned, without a trace of divine power fluctuation, returning to the natural Dao. Yet when it truly closed the distance, even this divine ant felt a deep and overwhelming gravity.
“Clang!”
This divine ant had cultivated to a profound depth, and its physical body in particular was stronger than anyone had imagined. It withstood the dragon spear’s strike. One great pincer came sweeping down in a fierce counter-blow, scarlet light flooding the sky.
Metallic resonances rang through the sky above. The ant clashed with the holy knight eight times. When the dragon spear’s ninth blow descended, it still raised its pincer to meet it head-on — but this time to no avail. The dragon spear’s divine radiance surged, transforming into a world-severing bolt of lightning that pierced through the divine insect with a single strike, its body bursting apart!
Ye Fan reached out and seized its divine soul, surveying its sea of consciousness. He said: “Just as I thought — these are descendants of an ancient sage clan that once attacked Hangu Pass, now trapped in this place, surviving on the divine springs their ancestors left behind.”
“Pop!”
With a flick of thought, Ye Fan reduced its divine soul to ash. Then with a shake of his hand, the desert rumbled and trembled as several fragments of divine spring rose into the air — precious few remained, nearly all consumed by the ant clan.
At last, they wound left and right and entered a hidden formation array, locating the five-colored altar and setting out on the journey once more.
In the half month that followed, they made seven or eight crossings. Each landing was on a desolate and lifeless star, yet every arrival brought with it a fierce battle.
In that distant past, no one knew what had happened — many powerful clans had attacked Hangu Pass. After falling in battle, their descendants had been trapped along this long starroad, between the formidable fortress of Hangu Pass and the void beyond.
“The attacks on Hangu Pass must date back at least tens of thousands of years. Among their ancestors was a kind of urgency and anxiety.” Each time Ye Fan defeated an opponent, he would probe their consciousness, and in so doing discovered scattered clues. He also learned that these clans came from a star domain extremely far away — in the deepest reaches of the universe.
To his astonishment, he found that they had not come for immortal cauldrons — they were not among the sages of the ancient era who had entered Earth. They were an earlier group, with different purposes, traceable back to a much more distant stretch of time.
In the ancient era, the sages who had come for the immortal cauldrons had mainly originated from three ancient stars: Fire Mulberry, Connecting Heaven, and Curved Handle. These newcomers were different — far fewer in number, and their time came considerably later.
“Earth is truly mysterious.” Ye Fan looked back into the starry sky, yet could no longer determine in which direction the solar system lay.
A month later, they had ventured deep into the vault of the heavens. Still they did not know where they were, yet another great battle met them at every stop. Just as the demon sovereign Xuan Chi had said, this ancient starroad was extremely perilous, filled with demons and monsters at every turn.
Each five-colored altar was concealed within a formation array, and could only be found using a secret technique Xuan Chi had taught them. The time on this road was spent mainly in these searches.
Ye Fan, Long Ma, the holy knight, Huahua, Zhang Qingyang, and Long Yuxuan — six people — pressed forward together. Powerful as they were, mishaps still occurred. On several occasions they nearly met their end: enemies wielding forbidden weapons left behind by sages tens of thousands of years ago had almost obliterated half of an ancient star!
“You carry the load, I lead the horse. We welcome the sunrise, send off the sunset glow. We level every obstacle to forge the great path…”
Ye Fan heard Zhang Qingyang humming and could not help but break into a smile. Their party had passed west through Hangu Pass, and this journey truly had something of a westward pilgrimage about it — subduing demons and vanquishing monsters, cutting down all manner of powerful alien races.
The child Huahua was enveloped in divine power, fortunate enough to ride alongside Ye Fan on Long Ma’s back. The holy knight wielded a dragon spear to lead the way ahead, while Long Yuxuan covered the rear.
“All of this is for the sake of attaining the Dao — we traverse the vast cosmic starry sky.”
When they descended upon the nineteenth ancient star, Ye Fan obtained a critically important piece of information. After defeating a group of powerful enemies, he discovered in their sea of consciousness the name of the life-bearing ancient star in the depths of the universe — “Ascendant Immortal.”
“In the boundless ages long past, the sages were overcome with an extreme urgency and anxiety as they launched their assault from an ancient star named Ascendant Immortal toward Earth — for what purpose?” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
The time period in which these people attacked Hangu Pass was incomparably remote and ancient — and they had not come for the immortal cauldrons. Their time predated those from the three stars of Fire Mulberry, Connecting Heaven, and Curved Handle by a great margin, and their numbers were vastly greater. The name “Ascendant Immortal” was mysterious and evocative, stirring the imagination with countless implications.
“To think that in the deepest reaches of the universe there exists such an ancient life-bearing star!”
Several days later, the group descended on the twenty-third star. Ye Fan’s expression shifted as he looked up into the vault of heaven, fixing his gaze on seven resplendent great stars. He could not keep his composure.
Seen from different star domains, the arrangement of these seven great stars would not be the same, yet the energy emanating from them could not be mistaken. Ye Fan could confirm it — that was the Northern Dipper’s star domain.
“We’ve arrived. The next stop will bring us down in the Northern Dipper’s star domain!” Ye Fan said.
“Master, are you certain… that is our final destination?” Even Long Yuxuan, a person of cold temperament, was overcome with excitement.
“Who would have thought we could truly reach the Northern Dipper’s star domain. I imagine that all of your old enemies, Master, would never have expected you to ride the starsky back and vie for supremacy with them once more.” Zhang Qingyang said.
Ye Fan murmured to himself: “Provided we do not find ourselves marching all the way to that ancient star called ‘Ascendant Immortal.'”