“I have urgent matters to report to the lord!”
After passing through scans and inspection, Ye Fan had at last boarded the Never-Setting-Sun Clan’s mother ship. Everyone aboard was a direct descendant of the clan — mercenaries were not normally permitted to come aboard.
The cyan-gold mother ship measured four thousand five hundred zhang in length, monumental in scale. It was a rare saint-grade treasure vessel possessed of incomparably formidable combat power — regrettably, with no saint to preside over it.
Allowing Ye Fan aboard could only be described as inviting catastrophe. In the world as it stood today, who beneath the saint realm could possibly subdue him?
“What is it you want?”
A powerful figure from the Never-Setting-Sun Clan spoke, a trace of disdain flickering in his eyes. The clan held mercenaries and temporarily recruited cultivators in low regard — they had been brought along as cannon fodder from the very start.
Now that this star appeared to pose no danger, overflowing with resources, these people seemed all the less important. If anything, they were likely to be a drain on supplies.
“I’ve come to take possession of this ship,” Ye Fan said with a smile.
“What?! Have you lost your mind?! A lowly mercenary dares to utter such words?!” The Never-Setting-Sun Royal Clan powerhouse shot to his feet.
Crack!
Ye Fan extended a single finger. A burst of blood bloomed from the man’s brow — he was killed on the spot, his expression frozen on his face as he toppled stiffly to the ground.
Whoosh!
The cabin erupted into chaos. Everyone nearby leapt to their feet, faces draining of color. Something like this had actually happened — utterly beyond expectation.
“Who are you?! Why have you betrayed your employer?!” A middle-aged man bellowed loudly.
“Ah — I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ye Fan. I am from this ancient star — in your eyes, one of the indigenous people.”
“It’s you — the hardship cultivator who challenged the Cao Family and made the Heaven sect look utterly foolish. You… actually came from here?!” Everyone was stunned.
“Quickly — broadcast an alarm throughout the fleet!” A high-ranking figure shouted in furious exasperation, shaking with rage.
The others sensed that something was terribly wrong and began to retreat — but it was already too late. Ye Fan’s combat power was immeasurably great. With no saint to bar his way, his divine arts moved through all things in a single thought; he unleashed the phenomenon of his saint’s physique, sweeping everyone off their feet and stripping them of the ability to act.
“It’s useless. A dao-body of mine has already gone to the main control room, severing this ship’s connection to the outside world and locking it down completely!” Ye Fan’s voice was cold and merciless.
The mother ship was terrifying — when used offensively, it was comparable to an ancient saint striking in person. But now that Ye Fan had entered its interior, every defense it had became ineffective against him.
In the main control room, Ye Fan’s dao-body unleashed a flash of five-colored divine light that directly shattered more than a dozen powerful experts and struck the arriving Never-Setting-Sun lords unconscious with a single blow.
He swiftly isolated the ship — sealing off every critical zone — to prevent members of the clan from acting out of desperation and attempting self-destructive sabotage.
Everything had happened too suddenly. The Never-Setting-Sun Clan was in complete shock. The mother ship had changed hands — this felt like something out of a dream, too surreal to accept.
Ye Fan’s dao-body took command of the main control room, while his true body swept through the enormous mother ship like a rampaging human tyrannosaurus, laying waste to every powerful expert in its path. Not a single soul could halt him by even half a step.
Half an hour later, he had gained complete control of the mother ship.
“Ahhh…”
A number of the Never-Setting-Sun Clan’s top figures had died; the rest had become prisoners, locked away inside a sealed cabin. They were filled with indignation, utterly suffocated by their helplessness.
It was like something out of a myth — a single person had seized their mother ship, and in such blinding speed. They had been completely and utterly defeated, without even the ability to strike back!
Ye Fan wasted no time in seeking out the evolution fluid. The moment he uncorked the bottle, vital energy overflowed in all directions. He drew in one breath — and immediately confirmed it: this surpassed a third-tier evolution fluid.
“They said it falls somewhat short of a fourth-tier evolution fluid and still requires tempering and refinement. Then I’ll set it aside for now.”
Ye Fan did not kill the prisoners, for these people would serve a great purpose — they understood how to operate ancient-saint war instruments, mother ships, warships, and more. They could be handed over to the Heaven Village.
Afterward, he manipulated a Never-Setting-Sun lord, driving his divine consciousness into the lord’s forehead bone and issuing one command after another, mobilizing the hundred-odd warships surrounding the mother ship.
He directed the fleet to enter the Northern Region but ordered them not to act rashly. Then he personally took control of the mother ship, executed a spatial jump, and arrived directly at the Heaven Village.
The great black dog was utterly stunned. Its copper-bell-sized eyes glowed green, and saliva poured freely — having learned the value of these ships two years ago, it drooled without shame. “Mine — the Black Emperor’s mother ship has arrived!”
The little bald-head came trotting over, tattling eagerly: “Master, while you were away, the Black Emperor and Duan De kept egging me on to drink wine and plunder other people’s treasures. None of it was voluntary — I missed you.”
“Ha ha — to think that we brothers would meet again, and so soon!” Li Tian appeared, his bearing unchanged — his devilish air undimmed, his nature as a lecherous scoundrel unaltered.
“Your third disciple was not led astray by others — his nature was simply unruly from the beginning,” said Yan Yixi, white-robed as snow, her elegance more transcendent than ever.
“Wahahaha! To think that someday I’d get to catch aliens — this is wonderful!” Long Ma appeared — born with extraordinary speed, he shot forward like a streak of crimson clouds, his mane blazing like flame, his powerful body gleaming with dazzling scales.
The entire Heaven Village was stirred into a frenzy. Many people emerged, all staring at the colossal mother ship in astonishment.
And upon seeing Ye Fan in particular, one and all were left further dumbstruck. No one had expected to lay eyes on him again.
Those who set foot upon the ancient starry road — walking the path of the trial of the strongest — few in all of history had been able to return at ease. And even those who survived generally did so only after many long years.
Yet merely two years had passed, and here was Ye Fan, bounding back alive and kicking — and having hijacked such an enormous vessel at that. It left everyone utterly speechless.
“Now listen here, kid — did you even set foot on the star-path trial, or what? How are you back in the blink of an eye? Don’t tell me you went AWOL?” The grandson of the Slaughter Saint, Qi Luo, the old bladesman, said.
The others roared with laughter at that.
“Divine Son!” Little Sparrow appeared as well, waving happily to everyone there.
A great crowd gathered around him. Even the Slaughter Saint Qi Luo had come. Two years had passed since last they met, yet he had grown all the more transcendent — not a trace of an assassin’s aura remained. He looked more like a philosopher now, his bearing clear and luminous.
“This makes no sense. How can you be back so soon? I heard from the old saint of the Sage Bureau that once one departs, it is very difficult to find the way home — the starry coordinates here are invisible, and one can only slowly feel their way back after growing powerful enough.” The Slaughter Saint voiced his puzzlement.
“Ha — I started missing everyone partway through, so I slipped away for a bit. I came back especially today to see all of you and bring a great gift!” Ye Fan laughed.
Everyone was rendered speechless. Throughout all of history, past and present, this was the first time anyone who had set out on the trial path had managed to turn back midway. This, too, could be called defying heaven.
“I’ve already sent someone through the domain gate to pass word along. The Sacred Imperial Son, the Wildman, Ji Zi, Yao Yuekong, and the others will be here soon,” the Black Emperor said, eyes gleaming bright — it already knew that this time, they were going to pull off something huge.
Long Ma snorted white mist from his nostrils, circled the mother ship a full lap, knocking here and tapping there. Upon discovering it was a sacred artifact, he instantly grew excited, bellowing that they should loot it to the fullest extent.
Ye Fan told everyone why he had returned, then urged the Heaven Village to act quickly. First and foremost, all prisoners needed to be taken into custody — they would all prove greatly useful in the future.
The Black Emperor was most keenly engaged and excited: “Exactly! There are still many things this Emperor has not figured out. This time, I shall become the overlord of the starry void! Once I crack their star gates, I’ll likely be able to comprehend the ancient emperor’s Five-Colored Sacrificial Altar!”
“Master!” Ye Tong was the first to return. His eyes were misted with warmth — he had thought they would never meet again in this lifetime, and yet they had been reunited so soon.
Ye Fan clapped him on the shoulder and saw that his eldest disciple had flourished in those two years, his bearing vigorous and heroic, his strength surging dramatically — he was on the verge of severing the Dao, about to take that critical step!
Then Li Heishui arrived. Wu Zhongtian and Jiang Huairen followed. For all of them, being able to meet again brought great emotion.
“Ha ha ha…” A monkey covered from head to toe in brilliant golden fur appeared, its vital energy surging like a tide, as though a deity had descended into the world. One could feel the terrifying, vast potential hidden within its body.
The Sacred Imperial Son’s cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds day after day. In those two years, he had made a trip to Mount Sumeru, and upon returning had entered secluded cultivation — achieving a remarkable fruit of the Dao, his practice advancing to an extraordinary degree.
Yet upon seeing Ye Fan again, he first broke into loud laughter — then was overcome with astonishment. “Severing the Dao, eighth layer of heaven — you… this fast?!”
Ye Fan smiled. “Once we deal with those mother ships and seize the evolution fluid, all of our cultivation levels can advance by at least one tier — perhaps even several.”
He relayed the full sequence of events from beginning to end, and everyone nodded along, their eyes radiant with divine light, excitement beyond measure.
The Black Emperor clamored loudly: “With benefits this great, I have a proposal — this Emperor will study the star gates intensively, and before long I will certainly crack them open. At that point, we march straight to the Eternal Prime Star for a long and sustained campaign of plunder!”
Long Ma was also brimming with high-spirited ambition: “Ha! This lord shall trample across the starry void, enter the Eternal realm, and bring along that grave-robber — let him dig up their burial sites!”
“And me, and me!” The little bald-head raised a small hand and jumped up with all his might, as though terrified of being left behind.
This pack of trouble-causers had only just heard a smattering of information, yet were already scheming against the Eternal realm.
“Be a little careful,” Ye Fan cautioned. “Over there, there is an organization called ‘the Divine’ — along with many other strange and formidable things. It’s not to be taken lightly.” He urged them to rein in their ambitions for now. The most pressing matter was to act quickly — otherwise he feared that group might truly break their way into the Seven Great Life Forbidden Zones.
“Let’s go — we’re off to capture wild aliens!” The whole group broke into laughter and boarded the mother ship together. If those from the Eternal Prime Star had heard them, they would have been infuriated beyond measure — to have been reduced to “prey” by this rabble.
To be safe, the Slaughter Saint came along as well — for those mother ships were all saint-grade, with saints overseeing them, along with some powerful war instruments and the like.
At that moment, fires of battle were igniting across the land. The Lanto Clan had indeed gone straight to the Primordial Ancient Mine, and a great mother ship leading dozens of warships reached the outer edge of this forbidden zone — immediately sensing that something was amiss.
“Something’s wrong here. There’s a terrifying alien force that disrupts all the instruments aboard the cosmic vessels.”
“The terrain here is barren — not a trace of vitality. It should be unclaimed territory. The few ancient saints they speak of shouldn’t be here.”
In the end, more than ten warships acted as pathfinders and flew in, intending to probe the situation — for the Primordial Life Stones were more precious to them than life itself.
Boom!
But then something shocking occurred. Every warship that entered the forbidden zone lost control, plunging headfirst into the ground, then cracking apart inch by inch.
On another front, the Canghae Clan of the Eternal Prime Star had made great gains — passing through an area where ancient clans were clustered, they launched an attack, severed the main peak of a mountain range, and seized a large quantity of resources.
Not every ancient clan had a Progenitor King. The clans in this particular area were not especially powerful, and they were suppressed to the point of having no way to fight back.
“These indigenous people truly are no match for us. Let us proceed to the Fire Qilin Cave and see what great treasures that sacred land might offer.”
The clan’s lord nodded. “The Lanto Clan has charged toward the Primordial Ancient Mine. The Cao Family and the Mo Family of the Primordial Demon Sea are heading to the Undying Mountain. We must move quickly and cannot fall behind!”