In the cold starry sky, a great black mass stretched endlessly — vast and magnificent, pressing in from the distance with boundless oppressive weight, draining even saints of all color from their faces.
The universe was immeasurably expansive, boundless without end. Even if humanity could cross it, each person could only move within a limited region over an entire lifetime.
Faced with this unknown dark cosmos, one felt oneself to be infinitesimally small and insignificant. In the star domains, encounters of any kind were rare — Desolation was the eternal theme.
But today, that norm was shattered. What they beheld was utterly staggering, and once their minds cleared, the chill ran from head to toe.
Their own mothership fleet was immense and imposing in its own right. Yet compared to the vast iron forest on the opposite side, it seemed weak and insignificant — barely worth mentioning.
What lay before them was an enormous fleet. Every vessel within it was unimaginably grand — the smallest exceeded a thousand zhang, while the largest stretched tens of thousands of zhang, spanning the heavens. Dense and overwhelming, they blanketed the sky completely.
They had been drifting through the cosmos for who knows how many years, long inscribed with the marks of time’s passage — yet they had never decayed, enduring eternally, existing since the ancient past.
“They are… truly them!” Even the voice of an ancient sage trembled.
The cold fleet was even more magnificent and overwhelming than their own mothership cluster. No end of it could be seen at a glance. This was the invincible overlord capable of sweeping across the universe!
Though the majority of the warships had grown dim, their luster no longer as brilliant as before, the dignity and momentum remained. Especially the immortal markings of the Grand Dao — they had not faded at all, still flowing, still radiating an unsurpassed divine might capable of suppressing the nine heavens and ten earths.
This was eternal glory — the crystallization of a civilization at its absolute apex. It had once swept across all directions of the universe, reigning supreme across every cosmos within its reach. Wherever its battle banners pointed, all submitted.
Yet now, not even the faintest trace of life fluctuated within. It had become utterly lifeless — at a glance, it resembled nothing so much as an ancient graveyard.
This was a form of desolation. More than that, it was a form of tragedy. All the glory, all the past memories had been buried in the dust of history, drifting alone through the cosmos in solitude.
These were a group of terrifyingly ghost ships. Over these long, uncountable ages, they had made even the mention of their name enough to cause dread. To face them was to face the god of death — like confronting evil spirits that had broken free from the shackles of hell.
Ten thousand years ago, they had shone with radiance beyond measure, ushering in an unprecedented golden age — a time of soaring prosperity that illuminated invincible divine brilliance!
Yet after their fall, as the ages passed and they reappeared, they became synonymous with death and terror, striking awe and dread throughout the cosmic sea.
No one knew what had happened. The once-invincible fleet had set out on a great expedition into the depths of the cosmic sea — and never found their way back. When they appeared again, they were ghost ships.
It had been a nightmare: the invincible radiance had transformed into the shadow of death. The first mothership fleet to discover them had rushed over rashly to investigate — and became followers of the god of death, becoming part of them.
For this reason, even the ancient sages of the Eternal Main Star had been alarmed. Eleven saints were dispatched to investigate — and none returned.
When the long ages passed and people came across them again, the eleven saints’ warships had also become part of the ghost fleet.
By then, two full ten-thousand-year cycles had passed. Later generations assumed the danger had passed — that if any terrifying beings had once occupied the old fleet, they would surely have left by now, and the mystery could finally be unraveled.
But the nightmare continued, the horrifying past repeating itself. Four ancient sages boarded the ghost fleet — and disappeared without a sound into the dark depths of the cosmos, never to return.
Fifty thousand years later, it appeared again — without destination, without origin, drifting aimlessly through the void of the universe, advancing without purpose.
At that time, once the overlords of the Eternal Main Star learned of this, they sent ten great sages together to intercept the fleet in the cold heavens and venture deep within.
But the nightmare had not ended. It was not over!
All ten sages vanished — just like those who had come before, never to return.
That time, the people of the Eternal Main Star were driven to desperation. They mobilized large quantities of devastating weapons, unwilling to go and unravel the eerie and terrible truth. They launched an attack capable of obliterating entire star domains.
The scene that followed made everyone’s blood run cold. Light beams powerful enough to destroy planets, suns, and countless other celestial bodies had absolutely no effect whatsoever.
The ghost fleet drifted without beginning or end, without tiring. All Grand Dao holy weapons and scientific combat sacred light were useless against them. Instead, a strange fluctuation spread outward — every mothership that had participated in the attack was reduced to fine dust, vaporized into cosmic particles, not a single person escaping.
These terrifying events had left the people of the Eternal Main Star deeply shaken. Over ten thousand years, while venturing deep into the cosmos, they had encountered the fleet fourteen times in total — appearing across different star domains, separated by an unimaginable number of star systems. It was hard to fathom how the fleet traveled such distances.
The last encounter had been forty thousand years ago, near an edge star system at an inconceivable distance. After that, the fleet had never appeared again. Everyone had assumed it had vanished into the desolate frontier of the universe.
No one could have anticipated that the ancient ghost ships would appear once more!
As in the past, their deathly silence was eternal and unchanging. Ten thousand years had brought no difference — lifeless and still, the living gave way before them.
“Make way. Open a path for them!” Panic was spreading. Even the saints wore troubled expressions. It was this terrifying ghost fleet that had silently devoured their ancestors.
No one could stop them. To this day, they had not forgotten the tragedies of old. Unless the ancient divine beings were resurrected, going near meant only a meaningless death.
This was a forest of cold steel — and a graveyard of death, capable of burying ancient sages and devouring all powerful beings.
“Ten thousand years ago, that was a pinnacle of glory. What did the warriors of that expedition encounter? Why did they become like this?”
That was the question on everyone’s mind — and yet from ancient times to the present, no one had ever been able to answer it.
Not even what destination they had set out for, nor what they had sought to conquer, could be verified. No clues had ever been left behind from that era. The invincible fleet had departed in secret and in silence.
“Could it be… that even after ten thousand years, we still cannot uncover the truth? Such a vast span of time has passed — perhaps there is nothing left within them anymore.”
The younger generation was far too removed from that era. Some hot-blooded youths could not suppress their curiosity, yearning to become the heroes who would tear away the veil of mystery.
“Anyone who dares act recklessly will be executed on the spot!”
An ancient sage personally issued the command. The more powerful a person was, the heavier the weight on their heart. Had there not been enough ancient sages destroyed in those days? Among them had been some of the most supremely brilliant figures of their age.
Fifty thousand years ago, the ten sages had boarded the fleet believing that enough time had passed for everything to have settled — and had they not been utterly annihilated?
“Just how powerful was that fleet in its day? Judging by its scale, it is truly immense — vast beyond extremity. Could it have assembled the full combined military strength of the Eternal Main Star from that era?” Even some of the Wang-level lords could not help but feel their hearts stir, voicing this question.
The fleet was truly overwhelming in scale — like dark clouds pressing down upon all directions, its weight suffocating. Within it were four enormous vessels, each two ten-thousand zhang in length, far more magnificent than any modern mothership, enshrouded at the center by countless dense warships.
If this ancient ghost fleet that had persisted since time immemorial was a giant, then their own expeditionary fleet was a dwarf — there was simply no comparison to be made.
“In those days, our Eternal Main Star truly was magnificent. Perhaps it is the supreme truth of heaven and earth that even the greatest glory must eventually decline — even the heavens themselves could not bear to look upon it any longer.”
One ancient sage gazed at those four colossal vessels, his face pale as he recounted certain ancient events, causing everyone to draw sharp, involuntary breaths.
In that era, the Eternal Realm had indeed reached an extraordinary peak of power. For a single ancient life star to produce three great sages in one age was already considered splendid — yet ten thousand years ago, the people of that star domain had broken through that boundary, shattering what had been considered normal.
Whether it was truly seven great sages, or perhaps a few more — no one could say with certainty. But whatever the number, it was staggering and unprecedented, reaching a level that shocked across all the ages.
People said that had nothing gone wrong, a divine being might have been born in that era. In the end… that hope was never realized.
That great expedition had been led by four great sages. The ghost fleet’s center — those four magnificent motherships, each two ten-thousand zhang in length — were the exclusive sacred vessels of the great sages.
“What?! Four great sage-level motherships — four great sages commanding the fleet on that expedition? What an unfathomably supreme and terrifying level of power! And they vanished under such mysterious circumstances, ultimately becoming ghost ships?”
Many were shaken, expressing shock at the outcome. The ancient sages felt a bitter taste in their hearts — among the fallen, some were direct ancestors of a few of them, who had died with their fates unexplained and their ends unaccounted for.
The immense ghost fleet carried with it an aura of death, blanketing the sky as it drifted past before their eyes. Not one person dared step forward — they could only watch from a distance, observing the glorious relics of their ancestors.
Suddenly, someone cried out: “Wait — something’s wrong! What is that? Between the four great sage ancient ships — something is bound there with massive iron chains!”
None of the motherships could scan that region. A strange fluctuation emanated from within, capable of blocking all probing.
A Wang-level lord stood outside his mothership, mustering his courage to gaze into the distance. Using the Heaven’s Eye technique, he observed something indistinct and mysterious.
But the distance was too great. In the dim and dark expanse of the universe, the gap between any two celestial bodies was immeasurable and unreachable for humanity.
“Move closer!”
An ancestor-level sage had also noticed something. He ordered a mothership to fly forward — not daring to get too close, only viewing from a distance.
“That is…” Many powerful cultivators rushed out of their spacecraft, gazing into the distance from the void, rays of light shooting from their eyes into the space ahead with each opening and closing.
Ye Fan also left his warship, standing on the outer hull to look out into the distance. His Source Heaven Eyes were exceptionally sharp, and in an instant he perceived what lay within — his body jolting in shock.
“It is a massive ancient coffin!” An ancient sage cried out involuntarily.
The fleet drew closer by another great margin. People gazed with a mixture of terror and astonishment, and at last the wondrous sight became clear.
Four great sage ancient ships, each occupying one corner — they were, incredibly, locking down a massive coffin, which drifted through the cosmos bound between them.
The ancient coffin’s material was unknown. It was not quite metal, not quite stone, not quite wood — its composition indeterminate, ancient and weathered, having passed through an unimaginably vast stretch of time.
Four thick chains were bound upon it, confining it at the center of the four great sage motherships — an arrangement that seemed absolutely heavens-defying and sinister!
Though the coffin was enormous, it appeared small compared to the four great sage ancient ships. Yet as everyone looked toward it, they instantly forgot about the four great sage vessels entirely — all eyes held only the coffin.
In the cold cosmos, it was the sole presence of consequence. A terrifying aura radiated from it, proclaiming it to be the eternal protagonist of heaven and earth — unchanging from the beginning of time!
An ancient sage’s voice trembled as he spoke: “Over ten thousand years, our Eternal Star Domain has encountered the ghost ships of death fourteen times in total. Each time, what lay between the four great sage vessels appeared only as a vast darkness — like the boundless and mysterious void itself, impossible to see through. To think that now we have finally seen through it — or perhaps it has revealed its true face of its own accord!”
Another ancient sage spoke with a grave expression: “If that is so, then it means our ancestors, when they set out on that expedition with four great sages, did so for its sake?”
“The spoils they harvested — or rather, obtained — was this great ancient coffin?” The ancient sages murmured this among themselves.
Ye Fan stared at that mysterious ancient coffin from primordial times, and a tremendous, surging tide rose within his heart!
“Since the darkness has dissipated and everything there is now visible, perhaps we can go investigate. I’ll take the risk — I’m going to have a look and uncover the ancient and terrifying mystery!” A Wang-level lord declared.