The Black Emperor had seen this stone box once before, long ago!
Emperor Wushi’s voice rang out, startling it so badly that its black fur bristled and it leapt high, crying out in shock repeatedly.
That man’s voice carried a strange charm, inspiring reverence in the listener, making one unable to help but listen with all their heart, wanting to explore everything about him.
“Having sought all the way to this point, this must be a great calamity…”
Clearly, the Path to Immortality was a breaking point, extremely peculiar, throwing time and space into chaos, severing everything — even Emperor Wushi couldn’t see through the eternal ages. All of this was mere conjecture.
The voice grew ever fainter, as if fading away in the river of time, gradually vanishing.
Unable to attend to anything else!
These were the clear words left behind. What Emperor Wushi had left might not even be enough to turn the tide of fate. In those broken, intermittent words, Ye Fan felt his body turn somewhat cold.
“How could this be?” The Black Emperor went from excitement to despondency, then to silence.
The true Great Emperors had all died… This wasn’t the first time the Black Emperor had said such a thing — people had mentioned it back in ancient times, and now it seemed there was truth to it after all!
How could the dead contend with the living Supreme Beings?
In this generation, the Path to Immortality wasn’t the greatest upheaval of the eternal ages — the greatest calamity was this dark chaos, its scale, its horrific bloodiness, surpassing everything in history, throwing the mortal world into disorder, staining the universe red.
“Let’s leave this place first,” Ye Fan said, carrying the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body on his back, holding the stone box, striding forward first.
As for the Western Emperor — though he was an Emperor’s corpse, there was simply no way to make use of him. Ye Fan could take possession of this flawless Great Accomplishment Sacred Body only because he possessed this bloodline, and had already merged with a wounded Sacred Body before this, allowing him to withstand this pressure.
Emperor Wushi, in his final years, had no time to spare, no extra strength left to leave behind for this generation to use for suppression — the contents of the stone box might not even prove useful.
This was likely just a cruel truth!
Ye Fan and the others arrived at the surface, walking out of the old grounds of the Jade Pool. He silently merged with Emperor Wushi’s father — though disrespectful, there really was no room left to worry about such things now. This battle demanded it.
“The Great Emperor never speaks in absolutes. There’s surely still some world-shaking divine might left,” the Black Emperor said, somewhat downcast.
“BOOM!”
At that moment, Ye Fan completed the fusion, erupting with a hundred million streams of immortal radiance, shaking the entire dark universe, making this long-since desolate star region blaze with splendor.
He had taken possession of the flawless Great Accomplishment Sacred Body, and now, three-in-one, fully merged, he felt a power capable of sweeping through the eternal ages without rival — truly overwhelming.
It had to be said, the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body was formidable to the utmost extreme — this one, being flawless, could far better display its former world-shaking divine might than the shell at the Sacred Cliff, which had lost so much vital essence.
And all of this was thanks to the green lotus within Ye Fan’s body. Even now, he found himself puzzled — none of the other Sacred Bodies seemed to have this chaos lotus in their Sea of Wheel Rebirth.
He had seen several Sacred Bodies now, and had never found one in their bitter seas — even incomplete or withered ones, he had never seen it, only within himself had it grown.
This chaos green lotus was deeply mysterious. The moment it took root, it directly revived the withered Seas of Wheel Rebirth of both Great Sage-tier Sacred Bodies, manifesting power that shook the eternal ages, startling even Ye Fan himself.
Long ago, he’d had certain suspicions, but had thought them too absurd to consider. Now, there was no more time to ponder — he needed to go wage a bloody battle in the universe!
The great black dog fumbled at the stone box. Before long, there came a soft click, and it had been opened.
In that instant, its previously subdued mood turned instantly euphoric. Struggling to contain its excitement, it stumbled back several steps, then let out a long howl toward the heavens: “Awoooo…!”
This hardly sounded like a dog at all — more like some great long-tailed wolf, its muffled roar shaking the heavens, the surrounding mountains rumbling and shaking as if about to collapse.
Within the stone box was a crystalline treasure vase, filled inside with brilliant crimson light, dazzling and resplendent, its radiance shaking heaven and earth, making the Great Dao itself seem to wail, trembling ceaselessly.
This was a vase of blood, possessing a strange, magical power. Even without being uncorked, it already suppressed the Great Dao directly — terrifying beyond limit!
“Woooo…”
Throughout heaven and earth, gods and demons wailed, hurricane winds rose, all manner of celestial phenomena appeared, the stars throughout the universe trembling as if about to explode.
This was Emperor Wushi’s vital essence blood, refined by him and sealed away for later generations — truly a supreme treasure blood, containing fragments of his Great Dao, leaving one utterly speechless.
“Great Emperor… back then, you were already old and weak, with no strength left to spare, yet you still refined so much vital essence blood…” the Black Emperor trembled.
There were also words inscribed — words written specifically for the Black Emperor.
“The Great Emperor knew I would come. So back then, he wasn’t just speaking idly — he was clearly telling me to remember carefully…” Tears rolled from the Black Emperor’s eyes.
The words weren’t many, but they said that if one could find a Heaven-Born Sacred Body Dao Embryo, then using these things could briefly bring Emperor Wushi back into the mortal world!
Unfortunately, in this current generation, no such physique had yet appeared.
“What a bitter regret in life — kid, do you think this Sovereign was wrong to have forced you back then, since it turns out a Heaven-Born Sacred Body Dao Embryo really was needed…” the Black Emperor let out a heart-rending cry, nearly lunging forward.
Perhaps that had been his one final chance to see Emperor Wushi again.
A Heaven-Born Sacred Body Dao Embryo couldn’t be found on short notice. There was a Sacred Body here, though — by all estimation, it couldn’t bring Emperor Wushi back, but it should be enough to make use of these items.
Back in the day, the Black Emperor had been nearly obsessive, nearly mad, forcing the issue, wanting the Heaven-Born Sacred Body Dao Embryo to be born into the world — it hadn’t even known itself that it would end up being used for something this significant.
“Just as I thought… Emperor Wushi’s offhand remarks back then all had their purpose. What a pity I didn’t take them to heart!” the Black Emperor said, full of regret.
There was no more time to spare now. Ye Fan held the treasure vase in his hand — the stopper had automatically loosened its seal the moment the stone box was opened; all he needed to do was pull it out.
The blood in this vase contained the Laws of Imperial Dao — exactly what Ye Fan needed most right now!
Even so, this alone wasn’t enough, because all of this was pieced together haphazardly. Still, he believed this vase of blood could definitely gravely wound a Supreme Being.
“There’s more — there’s also a formation array here, seemingly able to summon something!” the Black Emperor said.
It was a miniature array, truly tiny, only able to hold a single person standing on it, yet intricate and profound, seemingly condensed from an entire universe, dotted with stars, imprinted upon it, utterly unfathomable.
The Black Emperor’s head ached trying to figure it out — it couldn’t make sense of it, couldn’t decipher it. Still, with its deep attainments, it managed to read one line from the array patterns, seemingly meant to summon something.
“This is… meant to summon what?” the great black dog puzzled over it, utterly mystified — this array was something it had never heard of before; Emperor Wushi in his time had never revealed it.
“It should be some kind of powerful force, likely capable of gravely wounding a Supreme Being.” This was the shared conclusion of both Ye Fan and the Black Emperor, and for safety’s sake, it would be best to use it once the battle had actually begun.
Ye Fan rose into the air. His physical body now could be called supreme — a gentle shake could shatter an entire star region.
He didn’t head straight into the universe, but rushed instead toward the Fire Domain he remembered. The entire star system had been shattered into pieces, countless mountains and rivers no longer existing, uncertain whether they could even be found again.
Upon arriving, his body shuddered, for a figure had already arrived ahead of him, standing within the tenth layer of the Fire Domain, communing with the ultimate immortal flame.
“Is someone here with the same goal as us?”
Ye Fan had come to try his luck here — he very much wanted to take that flame with him; even the Wasteland Pagoda could be tempered by it, and one could well imagine it could harm a Supreme Being. Though the hope was slim, he couldn’t bear not to try.
“It’s Senior Gai Jiuyou!”
In an instant, Ye Fan had discerned who it was — this once-dazzling, world-astonishing peerless figure, who under the Azure Emperor’s Great Dao suppression had nearly attained the Dao, was now even more aged.
Gai Jiuyou was playing a tribulation-crossing immortal melody, a flame composed of immortal talismans dancing before him, ceaselessly shifting, appearing utterly mysterious.
“You all go on ahead. I’ll give what remaining strength I have. I’ll draw the immortal flame,” Gai Jiuyou’s divine sense conveyed.
Ye Fan’s heart trembled. Gai Jiuyou truly had grown even older, his life force nearly spent. Had it not been for the Azure Emperor, he surely would have attained the Dao back then — under that very suppression, he had nearly taken that final step!
Once a peerless hero of his generation, now reduced to this state, aged and frail, it was heart-wrenching to witness. He seemed intent on drawing the immortal flame into his body, to go fight in the universe!
“Senior… take care!” was all Ye Fan could say. He wanted to stop him, but held back — that might well be Senior Gai Jiuyou’s final, glorious battle.
Taking Xiao Nannan and the Black Emperor with him, he transformed directly into a beam of light, shattering the void, heading to seek out the Wasteland’s Forbidden Ground, unwilling to give up on the Wasteland Lord, wanting to ask her to come out and fight!
This place had naturally been preserved as well, impossible to destroy. The moment they drew near, they saw a tall figure pulling a massive immortal cocoon up from a shattered abyss.
It was the Old Madman — after so many years apart, his blood energy remained as vigorous as ever, even more powerful now.
“You all go on ahead. I’ll handle things here!” the Old Madman said.
Now, with the Wasteland Lord in deep slumber, this place had lost the power to steal away the years, yet he still struggled with great effort, for he was pulling out two ancient steles, seemingly intending to invoke some forbidden power contained within them!
One was the Immortal Ascension Stele, the other the Six Paths of Reincarnation Stele!
“Alright, I need to go fight now. Black Emperor, take care of Xiao Nannan…” Ye Fan said.
He knew Xiao Nannan was mysterious, with immense potential — but facing true Ancient Supreme Beings, that potential would surely be useless; she had no combat awareness at all.
The little girl immediately hugged his leg, tears streaming down in strings, refusing to let go no matter what, wanting to go with him.
“I don’t want Big Brother to go to his death… Nannan is very powerful too, I want to go with Big Brother!” she cried, lips pouting stubbornly, because she knew that once Ye Fan left this way, he would never return.
“Nannan, be good. Big Brother won’t die — I still have… to watch you grow up.” Ye Fan sighed softly, taking one last look at them both, then his body flashed with divine light as he pried her small hands loose, resolutely and decisively charging beyond the domain.
“No, I don’t want Big Brother to go to his death!” Xiao Nannan wailed, straining to reach a small hand toward the starry sky, trying to grasp at something.
The Black Emperor sighed, standing outside the Wasteland’s Forbidden Zone, gazing at the cold starry sky, swinging its great paw forcefully as it said, “Blood won’t have been spilled for nothing. In later generations, there will always be someone to destroy those Supreme Beings. It’s just a pity for this generation — so many heroes buried far from home, so much laid to waste.”