A magnificent sea of stars. Ancient stars turned one by one, bearing the imprints of life, each vast and majestic — together they seemed like an entire star domain crashing down.
A deep, resonant toll echoed across the cosmos. Within this star domain, from the ancient star that had transformed into a sacred bell, Dao-sounds spread out, sweeping across all six directions and eight reaches.
Visible ripples radiated outward. Wherever they passed, the star domain fell into desolate silence. Mountains collapsed and seas boiled. All things were shattered.
Yet Huang Xudao, Huo Qizi, and the others were no ordinary beings. Each of them possessed profound cultivation and boundless power. Each was a peerless talent of their age.
All of them had been the undisputed “foremost figure” of their respective great worlds in an earlier time — it was only the path to immortality that had sealed them until this era, allowing them to appear in the same age. For beings of this caliber to produce even one was already an act of defiance against heaven.
Though Huang Xudao’s body remained perpetually blurred — always standing within his Dao traces — his power was deeply unsettling. His aura could swallow mountains and rivers whole. He threw a punch, and the great bell formed from the ancient star immediately ceased its vibrations, every ripple locked in place.
A phoenix cry cut across the sea of stars — more vast than even the ancient bell’s sound. Huang Xudao thrust his arms forward and struck. It was like a gale sweeping through a starfield from the heavens. The sacred bell fractured, emitting a sharp and grating crack as it exploded in the void.
At the same moment, the phoenix cries did not cease, rolling through the sea of stars. Ancient star after ancient star burst open. The star domain Ye Fan had manifested darkened significantly in an instant.
Boom!
Ye Fan and Huang Xudao clashed head-on in full contact. Both of their bodies shuddered violently before each flew backward. The starlight dimmed noticeably yet again.
“Ahhh—!”
Huo Qizi let out a long cry. His blue hair was loose and wild. Though his build was lean, he seemed like a primordial savage dragon — his blood energy pressing down across all nine heavens and ten earths. He swung his Dao-force down like a hammer.
Ye Fan’s other body — his Dao-body — eyes like two razor-sharp blades, also pressed forward without retreat, charging to meet him. His fists and fingers covertly embodied the true meaning of the Six Paths.
Spit!
The two clashed body-to-body, Dao-to-Dao, innate power against acquired strength, fighting for dominance in every dimension simultaneously — it was furious and extreme. They transformed into two masses of light, tangled together with Dao traces and everything else.
Whoosh!
Two figures separated. Many ancient stars cracked open. The star domain grew dim. And the actual ground below was left in even greater ruin — the battlefield had expanded eight hundred miles into the wasteland. Every mountain ridge was broken. One peak after another was leveled to the ground. Nothing remained.
Boom!
The Holy Prince and the Crown Prince of Heaven fought with genuine fury. The iron staff swept across all eight directions, shattering everything. The Immortal Blade of Heaven sliced through the nine heavens — ten thousand strands of Dao-light rained down as they clashed furiously again and again.
Spit!
The Holy Prince coughed blood. Every golden hair on his body stood on end, gleaming like a brilliant golden god of war. His battle spirit and killing intent had reached a boiling point — his entire body blazed with holy light, unmatched in bravery. Yet in this great battle, he had still sustained injuries.
The Crown Prince of Heaven was faring no better. Crimson suffused his handsome face, and traces of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. The ape’s great staff weighed as much as a hundred million tons — he was finding it increasingly difficult to bear.
Both of their fathers were legendary figures without equal in their respective eras. One had been revered by all races from the earliest age of antiquity; the other had ruled throughout antiquity and passed in its final years. They had stood in distant opposition to one another.
The battle between the Holy Prince and the Crown Prince of Heaven drew even greater attention.
“The Holy Prince battles the Crown Prince of Heaven — this is an indirect continuation of the fight between the Fighting Holy Emperor and the ancient Immortal Emperor. How exhilarating!”
Many among the Ancient Clan were emotionally stirred. Quite a few were trembling with excitement, every fist clenched tight, watching in breathless tension.
“That human cultivator is far too powerful — he has temporarily held off three Ancient Emperor’s Sons alone? Even if he is certain to eventually fall the longer this drags on, it still feels far too unreal. Extraordinary beyond words!” Even Ancient Clan veterans were moved.
In every direction, on every hilltop, cultivators stretched endlessly — all watching from a safe distance. Naturally, prominent figures from several human noble houses had also arrived.
And with a large crowd, there were naturally people of every opinion, for each person’s perspective and understanding differed.
“What a tragedy. What sort of people are these — why did they provoke the Crown Prince of Heaven and cause so many sects to be destroyed, causing the innocent ordinary mortals of the Yan capital to die miserably? They truly are guilty,” someone lamented.
“Daoist Li, I think your compassion is rather excessive. All these years, the Crown Prince of Heaven has dominated the Eastern Wasteland — has he not slaughtered enough humans, destroyed enough Dao lineages? Everyone has been living in fear, not daring to resist. His wolfish ambitions are known to all. And now that someone has finally dared to stand against him, they become the guilty ones?” someone else said with cold disdain.
“Even so, he should not have implicated the innocent!” Daoist Li said loudly.
“The battlefield is not a fairy tale, nor is it child’s play. When has there ever been a war without deaths? It has always been brutal. What does it mean to ‘implicate the innocent’? The Crown Prince of Heaven has always viewed the human race as insects — all these years, how many human champions has he slain? And who was responsible for that — is that to be blamed on these people too? Someone rises to resist, while the Crown Prince of Heaven, in his madness, slaughters innocent mortals to vent his rage — and that is the fault of those who resist? If so, all of humanity should simply stay silent and be the most obedient slaves there are.”
“Even so, he should have met the Crown Prince of Heaven in an open and upright battle rather than resorting to such scheming. That would have shown real magnanimity and honor. The way they did it may bring consequences down on the rest of us,” Daoist Li said loudly.
“Open and upright? Magnanimity and honor? Laughable! The Crown Prince of Heaven came together with several Ancient Emperor’s Sons — did he ever intend to fight alone? He also had several immeasurably powerful half-Saints aiding him. Should the human cultivator holding the dark-gold spear simply go to his death surrounded by all of them? No one can fight that many Emperor’s Sons at once! Moreover, it is the Crown Prince of Heaven who was too cowardly to fight alone — and somehow he becomes the honorable one? A champion finally dares to challenge the Crown Prince of Heaven, and he becomes the villain? What a preposterous line of reasoning.”
“But he still failed in the end — he let the Crown Prince of Heaven break free outside Zhuxian City and produced no real result. He is not up to the task,” someone else nearby joined in.
“The battlefield is not a fairy tale. Who can triumph in every engagement, always at the height of glory? The fact that someone dares stand up and resist becomes a fault? All these years, as the Crown Prince of Heaven strode across the world slaughtering human champions one after another, what were you all doing? Where were you? Were you not all cold-eyed bystanders?”
“This humble Daoist believes only in what his eyes can see and judges only by results. He produced no result — he is simply not good enough. He may drag the rest of us into danger.”
Daoist Li spoke again.
“Daoist, you cannot even qualify as one who learns wisdom from hindsight — can you not see through something that has already happened? How can you say this battle produced no result? Had these people not drawn the Crown Prince of Heaven into such a fury and lured him into the killing formation, the consequences would surely have been unimaginable,” someone replied.
Many fell silent. These words were not wrong. The Crown Prince of Heaven had arrived with terrifying formation banners — and every one of them had been spent in this battle.
“Had they done as Daoist Li suggested — fought with magnanimity and boldness — they would have been wiped out entirely, reduced to ash by the formation banners, dying meaninglessly. Since they understood the Crown Prince of Heaven’s temperament, it was natural to fight accordingly.”
Many nodded. The Crown Prince of Heaven had never planned to fight alone — he had gathered so many fearsome allies and laid his scheming web of traps. To fight him with honor and bravado would be nothing short of stupidity.
If not for neutralizing the formation banners in advance outside Zhuxian City, the Crown Prince of Heaven could have sprung them mid-battle, putting this group completely on the back foot and likely killing several of them in inescapable danger.
“This humble Daoist judges only results — in the end, does he not still have to fight here?” Daoist Li pressed.
“The Ancient Clan’s champions surpass the human race, and the Ancestor Kings are many. By your reasoning, why bother fighting at all — simply be slaves, and be done with it. Why even go through this process? Let everyone just be silent. Dismantling the Immortal Emperor’s formation banners, step-by-step resistance — it all means nothing in your eyes. The human race should not fight, but should accept everything and submit to all races.” The speaker continued, “Even so, after the Crown Prince of Heaven broke the formation and marched south, slaughtering as he went — why did they hesitate and fail to stop him?”
Many shook their heads and said nothing. The answer was obvious. The Crown Prince of Heaven could open a domain gate with a gesture — how could anyone stop him? He swept south, and who could pinpoint his coordinates along the way?
That this group had managed to intercept the Crown Prince of Heaven so quickly was already something close to a miracle. Without a master of spatial arrays who could track faint traces, no one would have known where he had gone.
“These are all excuses. These people want to stand on the moral high ground and wage a crusade against the Crown Prince of Heaven. Hypocrites!” Daoist Li opened his mouth again.
Everyone shook their heads, finding the whole thing baffling. It was so obvious — what more was there to say? These people had been engaged in resistance against the Crown Prince of Heaven from the very beginning, never once retreating. When had they ever made excuses? They had been pursuing and striking back continuously, step by step.
The battle in the arena grew increasingly fierce, while the arguments among the onlookers grew more numerous as well — each side holding firm, points clashing, perspectives irreconcilable.
Ye Fan, the Holy Prince, Huang Xudao, and the rest were all in the midst of the battle, yet they could hear every word — for all of them possessed the divine ability of heavenly hearing.
The Crown Prince of Heaven broke into a great laugh, then turned utterly cold. He swept his gaze across Ye Fan and the others, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his lips. What he had said had come to pass.
So many ordinary people had died. Ye Fan carried grief in his heart. Facing the Crown Prince of Heaven’s provocation, he met it with calm steadiness — for all of this had been anticipated long before.
They had previously provoked the Crown Prince of Heaven with tremendous effect, drawing him into an inescapable killing formation. The Black Emperor had laid four layers of great Emperor-level killing formations to trap him. Who under heaven could withstand that?
That they had failed to kill the Crown Prince of Heaven this time was not because the formation was inadequate — it was because the Crown Prince of Heaven’s lineage was simply too deeply rooted, and success had been denied at the very last moment.
To have been driven to such a point in battle, every being below Sainthood should have been killed through and through. It was fortunate they were who they were — with the Black Emperor’s grand formation holding firm.
Otherwise, the Crown Prince of Heaven’s full complement of terrifying formation banners, all deployed at once, would have left the mountains without light and the sun and moon without color — everyone would have died.
“Ha ha—!”
The Crown Prince of Heaven laughed coldly and swept his gaze across Ye Fan and the others. He transmitted a message through divine consciousness: “I genuinely find it a bit difficult to kill all of you. Next time, I think I will simply slaughter ten cities of ordinary people. Without me even lifting a finger, your own human race will start calling for your heads — labeling you as criminals for all eternity. Ha ha—!”
The battle in the arena raged on, world-shaking. In the distance, people continued to argue.
“These people provoked the Crown Prince of Heaven for no reason and in the end caused his fury to erupt — they will very likely bring trouble down on the rest of us. A real nuisance.”
“The Ancient Clan has such overwhelming power — can these people even prevail against the Crown Prince of Heaven? Why did they have to go and try to kill him? Now they may drag all of us into mortal danger for no reason.”
“You are truly content to drift along day by day. The Crown Prince of Heaven’s intent to destroy human Dao lineages has never changed. If he attains Sainthood, the disaster that follows will be unimaginable. Do you all have no backbone? Using the Holy Prince’s hand to kill a prince — this may be the only chance left.”
“If not for these people, why would the Crown Prince of Heaven be in such a fury? What could resistance like this actually achieve?”
“In my humble view, they have gone too far. One should act with cool detachment — transcend the situation, plan from behind a veil, and achieve victory from a thousand miles away. That is the true mark of a hero.”
“And how would one achieve such a victory?”
“This—”
“Have you all grown so accustomed to the Ancient Clan lording over you that it has become normal? The rare few who actually resist are branded as wrongdoers, as heretics. If things go on like this… will everyone truly become numb?”
The Crown Prince of Heaven heard every word with perfect clarity. When he did, he could not help but laugh out loud, and the coldness in his eyes deepened even further.
Ye Fan’s heart remained calm. What he had witnessed was nothing he had not seen before. On the other shore of the starry heavens, were such people and such affairs not everywhere? When someone is being robbed in the open, everyone rushes to avoid getting involved. When someone takes their own life in public, crowds watch without a twitch of emotion — some even mock. In times of war, examples that made the heart go cold were more numerous still. Bystanders, cold and numb.
In the arena, the battle grew even more terrible.
“Heaven itself listens to my words — the very earth bows to my will! Holy Prince, what standing do you have to fight me?!” the Crown Prince of Heaven bellowed. His aura climbed without cease, hair in disarray, eyes radiating a fearsome intensity.
Boom!
He held the Immortal Blade of Heaven in his right hand and swept his left hand through the air, reaching out toward the void. At the uttermost edge of the vast cosmos, storms of thunder and lightning instantly erupted. Divine winds howled in fury. Primordial energy surged wildly.
In this moment, all of the wasteland felt suffocating pressure — as though they could not breathe. Every cultivator was seized with dread. Clearly visible in the vault of heaven, a rain of meteors came plummeting down.
Each one was enormous beyond measure, streaking brilliant light as they descended from beyond the heavens. They carried with them an aura of world-ending destruction. The meteors fell in dense waves — the sight of it made all living things tremble.
The Crown Prince of Heaven’s methods defied heaven itself. His words were law, his actions were decree. It was as though he sought to end the world — every meteor aimed at the Holy Prince. The whole world shook.
“Open!”
The Holy Prince seemed on the verge of merging with the Dao itself. He unleashed vast swaths of Dao trajectories in an attempt to deflect the meteors — to redirect them back into the outer reaches of the cosmos. But he failed. With no other choice, he wielded his iron staff to strike furiously at the nine layers of heaven, charging headlong to meet them.
Clang!
Before those massive meteors, the Holy Prince’s body seemed as tiny as a speck of dust. Yet still he swung his staff and shattered one — reducing a stellar fragment to a field of ash.
But the meteors were densely packed. There were simply too many. Each one was suffused with the radiance of the Dao, their divine might beyond measure, leaving the entire world breathless with shock.
The Holy Prince hacked and deflected horizontally, his two arms unleashing a force of hundreds of millions of tons with each blow. Even so, against this wave of meteors carrying the sacred power of the Dao, he was beginning to struggle.
These were stellar fragments — descending with the divine might of the Dao. How many beings in the world could withstand this? Only someone with the Holy Prince’s physique could hold on.
Spit!
The Holy Prince coughed up a mouthful of blood, sustaining serious injury at the last moment — when he shattered the final stellar fragment, his body swayed violently.
Hum!
Heaven and earth trembled. The Holy Prince opened his mouth and released a streak of golden light — innate primordial energy. His entire form blazed with fury, golden hair standing on end, every strand gleaming brilliantly.
“What is the point of you fighting for these numb and indifferent people?!” the Crown Prince of Heaven said with a cold laugh. The meteors had not brought down the ape — and that shook even his confidence a little. His opponent was not one bit weaker than him.
The Holy Prince’s innate primordial energy came crashing in. The Crown Prince of Heaven was forced to resist with everything he had — yet he was still sent staggering backward, coughing blood with each step, staining the Immortal Blade of Heaven crimson.
Clang!
They clashed again, plunging back into their life-or-death struggle, their lives on the line.
On the other side, Ye Fan’s true body and Dao-body continued fighting with savage intensity. With every divine ability pushed to its absolute limit, he had managed to pin down all three Ancient Emperor’s Sons, preventing any of them from breaking free — though it was a matter of hair-breadth danger at every instant, the battle had been driven to a furious boil.
In the distance, more and more people gathered — most of them from various prominent human houses. And there were also contingents from Ancient Clan royal lineages. All had come to watch this harrowing battle.