The divine-demon fluid was scarce, crystal-clear and gleaming, like colorful dewdrops rolling down from the cracked mountains, gathering together, sinking into the deepest reaches of the forbidden ground.

The Great Sages yearned for it; the elders of the Divine Realm likewise hoped for it — none did not wish to obtain it, each employing their own methods to try to seize it.

In truth, the Divine Elders had a chance at obtaining it — together they drove the killing formation chart down among the peaks, close enough to approach the divine-demon fluid.

Yet things weren’t as simple as imagined. That ancient coffin radiated Dao-waves, suppressing the divine chart — the Emperor’s corpse would not allow a supreme weapon to draw near itself; this was a form of self-protection.

One side was the corpse of an ancient Emperor, the other was the weapon of an ancient Emperor — the two meeting naturally meant neither would yield, unable to come together.

The Divine Elders grew anxious — opportunity doesn’t wait, once lost it may never return; perhaps this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. They exerted all their strength charging forward, but ultimately failed. The massive stone coffin thundered, its Dao-waves colliding with the formation chart, forcing them to retreat at once.

“What a pity, what a shame……” everyone sighed.

The divine-demon fluid could not be stopped, all of it sinking into the depths of the forbidden ground. Someone might be inside — this was the Sages’ speculation, their eyes flashing with light, each turning thoughts over in their minds.

Without question, the current battlefield was this forbidden ground — both the powerhouses of the Divine Realm and the Great Sages from outside wanted in. Apart from that stone coffin, the divine-demon fluid had also become their target.

“The Divine Realm is undefended — could we find a way to strike into it?” Long Ma said quietly. After days of observation, he’d come to understand the forbidden ground and the Divine Realm fairly well.

He knew, of course, that Ye Fan carried a great weapon of destruction on his person — also a coffin — and that if used properly, it might break open the Divine Realm, allowing them to storm in and seize the Ancient Tree of Life.

“Right, Ye Zi carries the Nine-Layer Coffin from the Mythic Era on him — maybe we really could succeed.” Pang Bo was tempted as well.

Years ago, when they breached the ancestral land of the Feathering Divine Dynasty, Ye Fan had obtained a small palm-sized coffin there — also a Nine-Layer Coffin, said to hold the burial of a divine spirit.

Because, as the Sage-Emperor’s Son had once said, it had appeared during the primordial era, nearly causing an entire ancient clan’s destruction, and had been reburied in the Nine Heavens above!

Ye Fan took out the small coffin — simple and unadorned, revealing nothing outwardly — and rubbed it with his hand. Back then, the Sage-Slayer Qi Luo had told him to discard it, or bury it in the starry void, but he had kept it on him all along, never heeding that advice.

At this moment, Golden Lion, Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon, Black Bear Sage, and the others were all tempted, their eyes burning — perhaps now truly was the perfect moment to storm the Divine Realm.

“What’s buried in this small coffin isn’t necessarily an Emperor — hard to say whether it could suppress the cursed Divine Realm.” Ye Fan said.

Long Ma nearly reared up on his hind legs, saying, “You won’t know unless you try — let’s go all in today, and beat those Great Sages to raiding the Divine Realm’s household.”

“Don’t rush. Right now the Divine Realm and the Sages from outside are locked in a stalemate — this balance won’t be easily broken anytime soon, and we’ll have our chance to act eventually. I keep feeling there’s great danger hidden here — better to observe quietly a while longer.” Ye Fan said.

His judgment wasn’t without reason — back in the Mythic Ancient Domain, a reef had once had a leaf from the Ancient Tree of Life drift down onto it, used to nourish ancient beasts within a star domain.

Such a method was chilling — raising a herd of ancient beasts across an entire starry realm always left one uneasy.

And now, they’d seen the Ancient Tree of Life itself, rooted right within the Divine Realm — clearly the work of those there, yet to this day there’d been no news of it whatsoever.

Ye Fan felt the Divine Realm likely still held secrets yet unrevealed.

After hearing this, the others calmed down too, sensing there was definitely something hidden here, unknown to outsiders.

Pang Bo frowned, saying, “Perhaps ancestors from ages past set up a formation — once a leaf from the Ancient Tree of Life falls, it might pass through that formation into the Mythic Ancient Domain. I think the current heroes of the Divine Realm may not even know what their ancestors arranged.”

This wasn’t impossible, but to be safe, Ye Fan and the others felt it was best to keep watching quietly — not yet the moment to strike boldly.

Sure enough, within half a month, an event confirmed some of their speculations — the Divine Realm was truly unfathomable!

Just recently, a Great Sage made his move, delivering a thunderous strike, wielding a legendary primordial ancestral weapon to smash into the Divine Realm, nearly causing it to collapse and shatter.

It could be said this was a great shock — no one had imagined that a Great Sage from outside would bring in such a powerful ancestral weapon. Though such ancient weapons couldn’t be argued as powerful as Emperor Weapons, some individual ones were still absolutely terrifying.

Generally speaking, such ancient artifacts were often a clan’s strongest divine treasure, passed down since ancient times, eternal and imperishable treasures!

This Great Sage was remarkably patient, having lain low for many years, never once revealing this weapon, only at the critical moment going alone to raid the Divine Realm’s rear — determined to achieve victory in one decisive strike.

Unfortunately, at the very last moment, he fell just short. He’d cracked open the most ancient mountain of the Divine Realm. Unexpectedly, at that final critical moment, the Divine Realm’s most ancient divine mountain split open, unleashing four beams of sword-slaying energy, instantly shattering that ancestral weapon.

This Great Sage died a horrific death, both body and spirit utterly destroyed!

When the news broke, the world was shaken — that the Divine Realm possessed such a terrifying divine weapon, one even they themselves hadn’t known about, was earth-shattering.

“He went too far, actually trying to destroy that mountain — you must understand, in the hearts of the Divine Realm’s people, its status equals that of Mount Sumeru in Buddhism.” Many shook their heads.

It was precisely this incident that sounded an alarm bell for everyone — the Divine Realm ran far deeper than people had imagined; what contingencies its ancient ancestors had laid down was hard to say.

All cultivators within the Divine Realm were stirred, searching within that most ancient divine mountain, yet they found no trace of that supremely powerful slaying sword. Only a trace of Dao-pattern remained, one that seemingly could be activated at critical moments, connecting to another realm, allowing them to borrow the sword’s might.

The Divine Realm was no longer an impenetrable fortress; such news couldn’t be contained and soon spread to the outside world, giving people much to ponder.

“Connected to the Life Spring of the Ancient Heavenly Venerate — able to borrow the might of the Four Slaying Swords from there.” The Great Sages from outside all reached this conclusion almost immediately.

This was rather thorny — to breach the Divine Realm, one needed an Emperor Weapon, and it had to happen while the Grand Master of Numinous Treasures’ killing formation chart was away from the Divine Realm; otherwise, true suppression was impossible.

“Drawing a circle as a prison — could it be that all of this was done by the Grand Master of Numinous Treasures, both constraining the Divine Realm and allowing them to protect themselves?”

“Why does the Divine Realm exist at all? It’s said that after a battle in the Mythic Era, remnants of gods and demons were imprisoned here, this place cursed, becoming a cage.”

“As long as it’s not truly the Four Slaying Swords themselves, there should be a way to counter it.”

Ye Fan and the others felt a chill in their hearts — good thing they’d stayed calm at the critical moment. Otherwise, they’d have been the ones testing the waters, and might have suffered heavy losses.

After this incident in the Divine Realm, several Divine Elders, riding the killing formation chart, returned, hoping to use the divine chart to summon the true form of the slaying swords — but unfortunately failed; those formation patterns showed no response whatsoever.

On this day, a great upheaval struck the forbidden ground. The Great Sages seized this rare opportunity, mobilizing in full force, launching their most terrifying assault yet, breaking through the mountain range of gods and demons, charging inside.

These peaks weren’t destroyed — like living earth dragons, they each crawled off in different directions, opening up many paths for them, and everyone charged forward.

“Fitting Mount Sumeru into a mustard seed — the ancient coffin visible yet unreachable……”

The Great Sages were alarmed — the depths of the forbidden ground held unfathomable spatial laws, the great void condensed into one, this restricted zone appearing bizarre; the moment one stepped forward, it felt as if one had entered a vast, boundless continent.

People saw the stone coffin, yet could never seem to draw near it. Every step taken risked plunging into a stretch of cosmic void — this place was deeply strange!

Ye Fan’s heart tightened, and he said, “This is undoubtedly the ancient coffin of the Void Emperor — this is his Grand Dao law, refining cosmic void, so that even a speck of land can be as vast as the sea, let alone a place already this expansive.”

The elders of the Divine Realm rushed back in, but too late — the Great Sages had already pushed deep inside, their target the ancient coffin, and all had scattered, moving through the special Dao-patterns of the Nine-Layer Coffin.

Several Divine Elders, unable to force their way through even with the killing formation chart, had no choice but to venture deep into this vast continent themselves, searching and fighting.

“This truly is a fine place — one day, should I achieve godlike might across the world, I will make this the most sacred ancestral ground of my primordial gods and demons lineage.” Sang Gu laughed loudly, flashed, and vanished, heading deep into the ancient continent — he’d come for the legacy of the gods and demons.

Not long after, in another direction, Corpse Corpse appeared. Gritting his teeth, he leapt into a massive crevice, where blood gushed and surged — for his Corpse Demon Dao, this was a treasured ground for cultivation.

“My Dao, my Law — devour everything here, and perhaps I too shall become a true god!” Devourer of Heaven Beast swept the surroundings with a grim gaze, then flashed and vanished, entering the depths of the ancient ground.

Ye Fan, Pang Bo and the others entered as well — for twenty years they’d been unable to get in, and now, with the Great Sages’ combined might finally blasting open the forbidden ground, they walked in for the first time.

This place was vast, its terrain extremely complex and unfathomable — all of this caused by the interplay between the stone coffin and the ancient talismans of the burial ground of gods and demons.

Venturing deeper in, they discovered many suspicious signs, traces of someone having lived here for a long time, and even spotted a golden feather — the very one shed twenty years ago by that divine bird they’d once seen.

Over the next seven or eight days, all these formidable figures moved cautiously, each exploring on their own, with nothing untoward happening.

The terrain here was very complex; no one dared be careless, for the slightest misstep could mean getting lost. Ye Fan pondered deeply for a long while, gradually coming to understand the Dao of this place, for he had once obtained the Void Emperor’s chessboard teleportation formation, its intertwining patterns holding great secrets.

Half a month later, Ye Fan was able to lead Pang Bo, Long Ma, and the others swiftly through the terrain, moving deep and fast, no longer needing to worry about running into Qi Tian, Sheng Ling, and the others — they could now avoid them at will.

“BOOM!”

The sound of surging water reached them — after journeying several hundred li deeper, they came upon a magnificent silver waterfall cascading down from cliffs a thousand zhang high, mist billowing below, the roar of water like thunder.

There, a figure stood with its back to them, practicing boxing. Each punch released rolling thunder of the Grand Dao, and above his head hung a bright moon like a divine disc, dazzling and resplendent.

This was a heroic-looking man, comprehending the Dao, pondering his own path, lost in a state of self-forgetfulness.

“Brother Haoyue.” Pang Bo froze, then a look of wild delight spread across his face — he hadn’t expected to actually run into Ji Haoyue. Though the figure’s back was turned, he was absolutely certain he wasn’t mistaken.

“Wait!” Ye Fan grabbed hold of him, saying, “Ji Haoyue should indeed be within this restricted zone, but this isn’t his true body.”

“What are you talking about?” Pang Bo was startled.

“Look at where the waterfall falls into the deep pool — something’s off. This might be the legendary Soul Pool of the Gods!” Ye Fan was on high alert, his expression grave beyond measure.