The four directions were utterly silent. White mist curled through the air, entirely out of place in this land of death. Ye Fan followed the black River Styx upstream, occasionally glimpsing a corpse or two drifting down the bank.
Of course, not all of them could be Ancient Saints — even the age of mythology had not contained so many powerful cultivators.
Death energy washed over him like a tide, making one feel as though entering the realm of the underworld. Ye Fan pressed forward for several hundred li until he reached the source.
It was a field of ice mountains, frigid air assaulting the senses. They were continuously melting now, their meltwater converging to form the River Styx and flowing downstream.
Within the snow-white ice mountains, one corpse after another was frozen solid, clad in ancient garments, belonging to various races, each with a different manner of death — a grim and ghastly sight.
This was a pile of corpses — frozen and sealed away — that had formed this terrifying death ground.
More precisely, this should have been a battlefield from the age of mythology. At the height of the battle, it had suddenly been frozen, transforming into the endless ice peaks of today.
“Who could have done this? It resembles a supreme master of the imperial Dao who had deployed a forbidden secret technique, freezing three thousand worlds in an instant — causing all cultivators of every race within the battlefield, Saints included, to perish simultaneously,” Ye Fan murmured softly.
His heart was gripped by a chill. What a terrifyingly powerful being this was — one hand covering the sky, an era-defining existence from the mythological age that filled one with trembling awe.
Yet something was off. The River Styx was black, saturated with death energy, while these ice mountains, though sealing dense clusters of cultivators within, were white and crystalline.
Ye Fan rose into the air above the ice mountains and gazed downward — and at last saw the true cause.
At the source of the River Styx, surrounded by ice mountains, lay the center — pitch-black and completely dark, a deep pool.
It was bottomless, dark as ink, with surging black vapors rising in wisps. Occasionally a corpse would surge up from within. A terrifying power permeated the pool — as though it were the very origin of destruction, saturated with a powerful death energy.
Ye Fan hovered above with the Myriad Source Mother Qi Cauldron, retreating to a sufficient distance, then extended two fingers like a sword and slashed forward.
Hiss!
A golden sword light shattered the sky. Its shockwave alone caused several ice mountains around the pool to instantly collapse. The sword light cleaved into the pool.
BOOM!
Roaring sounds erupted. Violent tremors shook the land. Runes rose in succession, the deep pool like an underworld emperor’s palace, overflowing with death energy.
Dark waves curled backward. As vast quantities of water splashed up in that instant, the pool was evaporated dry — and in that same moment, Ye Fan saw a well. Clearly carved by human hands, it lay at the bottom of the deep pool.
Within the pool, there was a demonic well.
On its rim were ancient traces of the Dao. For a fleeting moment it was as though an elderly Daoist stood there chanting scriptures — then that image flickered and vanished, leaving only ancient runes sealing something within.
Ye Fan drew a sharp breath. He looked around at the vast expanse of ice mountains packed with corpses. Who could know how many had died fighting here — all of them, he realized, had come to be near that well.
What was sealed inside it? In the age of mythology, it had driven so many beings to battle and die for it — merely thinking about it made one’s spirit tremble.
So many ages had passed. Whether what was inside had been eroded away, none could say. Nothing could withstand time indefinitely — whether the well’s existence still held meaning was unknown.
Ye Fan began to investigate and encountered terrifying fluctuations. The ancient well seeped out wisps of black energy — the sealing power was still in effect, though infinitely weakened compared to what it had been before the Primordial Age. Still, it could not be opened.
Ye Fan had no choice but to withdraw. He then attempted to shatter the frozen ice and search, but the corpses within disintegrated to ash the moment they touched the air — only those that fell into the River Styx retained their rotting forms.
As for the weapons from before the Primordial Age, they had long since shattered and broken. Not a single one had survived intact.
The entire field of ice mountains, together with the demonic well and the River Styx, was saturated with the power of death — exactly the cultivation ground Ye Fan needed. He waited for Long Ma and the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon for a full day and night. When they finally arrived, he entered closed-door cultivation.
“The burial ground of gods and ghosts — truly terrifying,” Long Ma said with its heart still pounding.
The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon was nearly petrified as well. Among the ice mountains were no small number of supreme powerhouses — some absolutely far stronger than themselves — and yet all had perished here.
Had a supreme ancient emperor truly intervened? That not a single Saint had escaped the catastrophe, all becoming corpses in a single instant.
Death energy permeated the air. The ice mountains were melting, releasing one corpse after another — including the bodies of powerful Saints — all flowing into the River Styx.
Wisps upon wisps of death force drifted upward from the ancient corpses of the mythological age, converging toward where Ye Fan was seated.
Though time had eroded so much, with so many corpses, so many once-supreme powerhouses — their death energy gathered together was still earth-shattering.
Long Ma and the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon bared their teeth and flew far away, terrified of being swept into it. Such a torrent of death force was enough to corrode someone into a pool of filthy blood — even Saints would have to retreat.
Ye Fan sat cross-legged before the netherworld pool, utterly motionless. His entire body was enveloped in death energy — wisp by wisp it seeped into his Sea of Suffering Wheel. Within, it was as though the heavens were being created anew, producing continuous rumbling thunder sounds.
One could say he hovered at the very edge of death — one wrong step and he could be consigned to eternal damnation.
The Life Wheel and the Sea of Suffering represented life and death. Once their balance was broken, not even an ancient Great Emperor could save him — Ye Fan would suffer the obliteration of both body and spirit.
Ye Fan’s primordial spirit submerged within the Sea of Suffering Wheel, comprehending the mysteries of life and death, dancing with death itself, lingering at the gates of hell.
The Sea of Suffering Wheel absorbed the power of death. The black fog poured in without ceasing, turning even the golden Sea of Suffering black — like a vast ocean howling in fury.
At the same time, a divine herb floated up — the seed of the Peach Divine Herb — transforming from dim and lustreless to brilliantly radiant, appearing within the Sea of Suffering Wheel.
Ye Fan drew the death force into the Sea of Suffering and channeled the life force of the divine herb seed into the Life Wheel, causing both to grow ever more vast as they surged and crashed against each other.
Life force and death force entwined together, forming a Taiji diagram that continuously evolved and grew denser and more concrete — as though a supreme treasure was being gestated and taking form.
“Has he gone mad? Absorbing so much death force — can a person even survive that? Even if he doesn’t die, he’ll end up a cripple!” the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon said from a distance, its voice full of shock.
“As the saying goes — fortune is sought in the midst of danger. Without sacrifice, without risk, how can one quickly obtain what one seeks?” Long Ma said with a grave expression.
“I can understand absorbing life force — but what use is absorbing death force? It damages the physical body,” the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon swallowed hard with great difficulty.
It was not alone in this — even Long Ma could not fully understand. There was a hidden unease, a sense that Ye Fan’s style of “demonic cultivation” was too savage and fierce.
No more, no less — exactly nine days. Ye Fan drew the life force from the seed and the vast death energy into his Sea of Suffering Wheel without moving a single inch, the sound of rumbling emanating from his abdomen.
One ancient character after another appeared outside his body, radiating divine light, the sound of chanting sutras rising, shaking heaven and earth.
Within his abdomen, the Taiji diagram was taking shape — yet it also showed signs of collapse. Life force and death force were colliding, the yin fish and yang fish threatening to scatter and merge with each other at any moment.
Once that happened, even the appearance of an ancient Great Emperor would be useless. Ye Fan would suffer the complete obliteration of body and spirit — reducing himself to ashes of calamity.
Throughout this process, the Taiji diagram must not be destroyed. Once it collapsed, it would sweep through his body and mind — he would become the very origin of destruction, utterly detonating.
The yin fish and yang fish were entwined, extremely unstable, trembling slightly — and they were truly on the verge of exploding.
In that moment, the vast life essence and death force were intertwined, terrifyingly immense. They projected upon Ye Fan’s abdomen a sweep of runes and ancient characters — the scripture he had created was flowing of its own accord, manifesting itself in the world.
“It’s over — he’s going to detonate. His body and spirit will be obliterated!” the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon said, retreating continuously.
Long Ma’s expression also turned ghastly pale. It sensed Ye Fan’s crisis — yet at this moment, no one could help. To approach might only accelerate his destruction.
At this instant, wisps of immortal radiance swept across Ye Fan’s face, and surges of black fog appeared in turn — life and death alternating over him.
BOOM!
Within the Sea of Suffering Wheel, yin and yang had lost their equilibrium and were on the verge of disintegration, producing a terrifying crisis. Radiance blazed in ten thousand streams, overflowing from his body and soaring toward the heavens.
Ye Fan’s heart sighed. He had been too eager for results, too far ahead of himself. Others who cultivated the Saint realm — who among them did not painstakingly consolidate their foundation, grinding away across long stretches of time? Precious few dared to be so savage about it, pushing straight for completion.
One mistake in the Saint realm meant descending into an abyss from which one could never be reborn. The greatest heroes dared not be reckless at this cultivation stage.
Yet in the present circumstances — whether on the stellar ancient path or the path to immortality — great crises loomed on all sides. He could escape none of them. His only option was to strengthen himself as swiftly as possible.
“The ultimate — the final extreme of all that exists in the universe…” His fading self, his Dao self, and his true self chanted together in unison, driven to the very edge of extinction.
He did not give up — for he had left himself a margin. Even at the moment all things collapsed and crumbled, there would remain a wisp of life. How much more so when he himself was directing everything.
The Sea of Suffering Wheel — which Ye Fan regarded as the origin point of all things being born within the human body — was now in the midst of creating the heavens. Chaos energy drifted and swirled within it. Life and death stood opposed, on the verge of a great collision and dissolution.
Yet at the final moment, a Chaos Azure Lotus emerged from within the Sea of Suffering Wheel, swimming like a true dragon, standing between the ocean of life force and the sea of death.
This was the azure lotus within Ye Fan’s Sea of Suffering Wheel — something he possessed that others did not. Now it swam ceaselessly, transforming into a dragon-shaped curved line.
BOOM!
Amidst the creation of the heavens, amidst the swirling chaos energy, Ye Fan’s Sea of Suffering Wheel stabilized. The Chaos Azure Lotus transformed into the dividing line between yin and yang, separating the yin fish from the yang fish.
It became the most crucial line within the Taiji Immortal Diagram, dividing life from death.
In that moment, Ye Fan’s eyes snapped open. He knew he had succeeded — a breakthrough was imminent.
At this instant, his entire body overflowed with divine light. His physical form radiated brilliance, every inch of his flesh and blood dazzling beyond compare.
“He succeeded!” the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon cried out.
“Don’t tell me you’re about to undergo tribulation?” Long Ma was equally astonished.
Others who cultivated the Saint realm would steadily consolidate their foundation, with few daring to advance so recklessly. Yet Ye Fan, relying on such a powerful accumulation, had broken through between life and death — and actually succeeded.
“I need to disperse the power I just accumulated. I’ll need a different place to undergo tribulation,” Ye Fan said.
“Haven’t you already refined that life force and death force?” Long Ma and the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon were both shocked and confused.
“I needed the opposing forces to break through my barrier, but I was not truly fusing and absorbing them into myself. The Dao I cultivate requires only my own power — I only needed to open the treasure vaults of my body, unlocking one divine gate after another within me.”
What Ye Fan needed to cultivate now was his own power alone.
Long Ma’s eyes immediately blazed with eagerness: “Then the life force you’re releasing — could it not be used to perfect someone else?”
Ye Fan nodded. “There will be an immeasurable release of life force.”
“And the death force you absorbed — if released, won’t it become a great weapon of destruction?!” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon’s mind went to that overwhelming death energy.
Suddenly, from a distance came wave upon wave of terrifying fluctuations — a group of powerful creatures was closing in swiftly.
“Who dares come here, stealing a head start to seize our master’s ancient artifact?!” A great shout rang out — members of the extraterritorial Sacred Spirit lineage had arrived.
“This is bad — a great battle has erupted. The human race’s Tenth City and this ancient star may have already become a terrifying killing ground. We must break through and get out!”
The most catastrophic scenario may have already unfolded. The supreme Sacred Spirit had led its vast army from the depths of the universe — and was upon them.