“Father, why are you crying? Who bullied you? Xiao Zi has been very well-behaved — she hasn’t done anything wrong at all,” Xiao Zi said in her soft, baby voice, climbing up onto him.

Many people had noticed the expression on Ye Fan’s face and could not help but feel astonished. This was something that had never happened before. Even in the most grueling and difficult of times, Ye Fan had only ever bled and sweated — never wept. What had come over him?

Ye Fan did not want to tell everyone about that terrifying future. It was too cruel. He only needed to stop it from coming to pass — he had no wish to reveal it and fill everyone’s hearts with dread.

“I feel as though I’ve been separated from all of you for ten thousand years,” Ye Fan said, tears shimmering in his eyes, yet smiling — his heart far from calm. What lay ahead would surpass everything he had endured before; those would truly be the most grueling and bitter years yet to come.

“Master!” A young man flew forward, his robes billowing and flowing as though he were a transcendent being. He was still young and unpolished, yet his face was written over with excitement, his eyes bright and glistening — brimming with tears, just like Ye Fan.

“Xiao Song!” Ye Fan called out. He recognized him at first glance of course — though greatly changed in appearance, the aura he carried could not change, and Ye Fan had already heard of Xiao Song forcing back the Underworld and the descriptions others had given of him.

Xiao Song’s eyes reddened. He bowed in deep formal salute, and Ye Fan immediately pulled him to his feet with one hand. Master and disciple had been parted for several hundred years; in that time, far too much had happened.

The years are like a song — and like a blade — having changed so much, yet leaving unchanged the genuine feelings of the past.

A long time later, they finally calmed down. That Xiao Song remained as pure and simple-hearted as ever left Ye Fan deeply surprised. Only after probing the nature of his cultivation and his path did he let go of his surprise, and he was filled with admiration for his extraordinary gifts.

In the past, that small, simple-minded purple squirrel had quietly hidden its mother’s bones away in the underground cavern, then crept before Ye Fan with careful, almost ingratiating steps — yet afterward laughed without a care in the world, leaving one feeling both tenderness and heartache.

Now, as time flowed ever onward, Xiao Song had on this very day become a Quasi-Emperor.

“I’ve been in seclusion contemplating the Dao, and I’ve gained some insights. I’d like to discuss them with all of you,” Ye Fan said, calling over Xiao Song, Ye Tong, and Yang Xi, then turning to invite Pang Bo, Li Tian, and the others as well.

His recent meditations on cultivation methods had truly been immensely fruitful. He wanted to find every possible way to raise the strength of those around him — to speak his experience and insights aloud for their reference.

Mountain Phoenix and the others naturally burned with eagerness as well. The insights of a sixth-level Quasi-Emperor would be extraordinary — and to have them explained and transmitted without reservation would be worth years of bitter cultivation.

“You all come too!” Ye Fan saw the scorching intensity in their eyes and extended the invitation to them as well.

Naturally, Huo Qizi and his sister could not be included for now. After all, they were currently nothing more than guests of the Heavenly Court — not yet truly one of their own.

On a divine island, Ye Fan held nothing back, expounding on the Grand Dao. Every insight he spoke was elaborated in thorough detail.

Each person walked a different path — yet there were always elements that intersected and resonated. In that place, the scriptures rolled like thunder, the laws of the Dao roared, ten thousand rays of auspicious light blazed, and immortal energy filled the air, until the place was thoroughly transformed into a divine land.

Everyone listened with complete stillness, silently absorbing the insights — save for one Xiao Zi, bright-eyed and lively as a little sprite, clambering all over the place, touching this and poking that, mischievous beyond measure.

In the end, many people dispersed to seek their own cultivation grottos and contemplate in solitude. Ye Fan transmitted the Word Secret to Ye Tong, Xiao Song, Pang Bo, Li Tian, Yang Xi, Dongfang Ye, and the others.

A thing like this, if it were to spread beyond the Heavenly Court, would absolutely trigger a great upheaval. If it fell into the hands of an enemy, their strength could skyrocket — and so he was extremely cautious, transmitting it only to a select few.

“Woof!”

After the Great Black Dog had stood upright to practice the Movement Word Secret, sprinting about like a human being, from this day forward its massive head began to glow — as if it were some kind of ghost — and it started behaving in an increasingly eccentric and distracted fashion.

It was practicing the Word Secret, constantly convinced it had awakened to a higher spiritual consciousness, hearing the voices of the future, seeing the scenes of the future — yet everything was blurry and beyond its grasp, leaving it in a perpetual daze.

“I’ve heard the Great Emperor’s call!”

“He is waging war against the immortals — fighting for tens of thousands of years!”

Even the Silver-Blood Dual Monarchs gave this now-bewitched Great Black Dog a wide berth, not daring to come near it, for fear of being seized by it and unable to break free.

Ye Fan sat upon a mountain cliff, mist rising all around him, contemplating the laws of the Immortal Bell etched into his cauldron walls. It was an astonishing form of Dao and Law, giving rise to boundless inspiration.

These days, he would often discuss things with Ye Tong, Xiao Song, Mountain Phoenix, and others. They were all researching these Dao patterns together, each gaining different insights and comprehensions.

Now, the Heavenly Court was far from lacking in scriptures. The several volumes Ye Fan had collected previously, combined with those he had obtained from the several crown princes of the Divine Court, and then further supplemented by what Xiao Song had brought from Earth — they had enough to fill an entire scripture pavilion.

Every single one contained the miraculous power to steal the workings of Heaven and Earth, worth a lifetime of contemplation even for an ordinary person. With this many gathered together in one place, it was naturally a collection that would astonish the world.

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed. Ye Fan grew ever more serene and composed. Each day he would gaze out into the depths of the star-sea, and his eyes grew ever more profound — unfathomable to others.

Yang Xi emerged from seclusion and set out into the universe to train and temper himself, aiming to break through to the Quasi-Emperor realm. Xiao Song quietly followed along to guard the Dao for him, while also testing the results of his own half-year of cultivation.

Ye Tong also departed, heading to the Heavenly Sovereign Battlefield. Ancient emperors’ children had been sighted there, and he needed to look for the Sacred Emperor’s Son — there had been no news of him for quite a long time.

As for Pang Bo, he had teamed up with the Black Emperor to venture out into the universe on a wandering journey. Clearly, they too were on the verge of a breakthrough, wanting to charge through the final barrier and advance to the Quasi-Emperor realm without further suppression.

Long Ma ranged freely through the various star domains, and now Mountain Phoenix had joined in making occasional patrols. The Heavenly Court’s foundations grew ever more solid, and the scene was one of flourishing vitality and rising prosperity.

Everyone knew — with Ye Fan’s several disciples and brothers and sisters on the verge of breaking through, the forces in this world that could stand against them would be few and far between. A colossal entity that the entire world would have to take notice of was rising.

“We’re heading out too — going to find a place to make our breakthrough,” said Li Tian and Yan Yixi, who also set off, heading for the Purple Micro Star Domain and other places to seek their own paths.

“I’m going back to the Northern Dipper. Though I have no fate with the Quasi-Emperor realm in this life, I should still come to understand my own path — go through it one more time,” said Li Heishui.

“I’m going to seek out the Old Ancestor for a bit of guidance,” said Dongfang Ye, flashing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth as he set off too.

The Silver-Blood Dual Monarchs and many other top-tier members of the Heavenly Court departed one after another. From the day Ye Fan had returned, they had all sensed something — and each was throwing themselves into cultivation with all their might.

Ye Fan asked Mountain Phoenix to go wherever trouble arose and lend support, having a Quasi-Emperor-level figure keeping watch — he felt that these people should not find themselves in any danger.

The Heavenly Court grew quiet. Even Huo Lin’er and Huo Qizi had eventually grown bored and taken their leave, also requested by Ye Fan to lend aid when necessary. The two sides formed an unofficial alliance.

Ye Fan continued to sit in meditation, gazing out at the star-sea. If the great battle between the Supreme Beings were to break out ahead of schedule, what could be done to find safe haven for everyone? What means could be used to unravel the crisis?

Then, one day, Xiao Song returned and told him that Yang Xi had successfully broken through to the Quasi-Emperor realm. Only then did Ye Fan rise to his feet and set out again.

With Xiao Song and Guxin’ao holding the fort, he was still very much at ease. Add to that Xiao Nannan — even if invincible ancient beings were to come and attack, they could hold the line.

“The forces that destroy the Heavenly Court in the future are the Underworld and the Phoenix Nest. I’ll go take a look — probe the situation, gauge their strength.”

Ye Fan set off, crossing an endless expanse of star domains and entering the region where the Underworld lay. There was not a single ancient life-bearing star here — only dark mist coiling and a suffocating air of death.

As he drew near a stretch of netherworld soil, the atmosphere grew even more sinister and brutal. In the cosmos, an inexplicable vicious wind howled, cracking open even stars. One could not linger here.

This was an inconceivable ghost-land, defying all reason and ordinary law. Following the corner of the future he had glimpsed, Ye Fan had tracked it down to this place, and found it deeply awe-inspiring.

There was a vast stretch of netherworld soil — vaster by far than any star — shrouded entirely in rolling mist. For ages it had been hidden away within a Heaven-reaching immortal treasure, only emerging into the world not long ago.

Ye Fan watched from a great distance, his body merged with the void. He was certain — within it, ancient Supreme Beings truly slumbered, just as with the seven great Forbidden Zones of the Northern Dipper. A certain indescribable sensation told him so.

“The Nether Emperor should be on the verge of awakening in just a few more years, shouldn’t he?” Ye Fan frowned. He had to find a way to prevent this person from waking up. The Heavenly Court needed time to develop — but what could be done?

A stream of pure energy rose from the top of Ye Fan’s head. His Dao-self manifested, taking the form of another him, and walked forward toward the Underworld.

At his level of cultivation, the only things he still feared were the Emperor’s Path array formations and the slumbering ancient Supreme Beings — those domains he could not afford to touch.

The Dao-self did not venture deep inside. It only circled the perimeter of the Underworld, silently observing. Was An Miaoyi in there? He very much wanted to go in — yet he suppressed that impulse.

In the end, when time had run its course, the stream of pure energy dispersed. Ye Fan’s true body let out a sigh. He sat cross-legged there, reciting sutras in his heart as the Scripture of Salvation resonated within him.

Ye Fan’s emotions stirred — yet his body grew increasingly still and insubstantial, as though it were fading from the world. He was guiding his own “divine spirit” into transcendence — dissolving it into the void.

This was an ultimate profound truth he had come to understand from the Scripture of Salvation. He had come to feel the immense power and terrifying nature of the Numinous Treasure Celestial Sovereign. This secret technique was embedded within the ordinary — most who received the scripture could neither discover nor comprehend it. Only one whose heart had sensed it, whose state of mind matched that of the Numinous Treasure Celestial Sovereign of old, would ever come to realize it.

He had once wondered whether the Numinous Treasure Celestial Sovereign had also experienced moments of helplessness — circumstances much like these.

From Ye Fan’s primal spirit, countless droplets of luminous light separated themselves and dissolved into the void, vanishing utterly. His body grew cold and still, without a single movement.

He was guiding his own “divine spirit” into transcendence — imprinting it upon the netherworld soil. It carried no combat power, no laws — only a thread of sensation, searching for An Miaoyi.

In accordance with his understanding, the slumbering Supreme Beings would not detect it. Array formations would not be triggered. In this way, he could pass through noiselessly — yet the toll it exacted was immense, burning away the very power of his own soul and spirit.

The netherworld soil was vast. Ye Fan’s “divine spirit” drifted through it like a ghost, invisible to all, fully merged with the void-sky, draining his soul and spirit at a rapid rate.

He did not know how much time had passed. He felt deeply weary — his divine spirit nearly exhausted, even his true self approaching danger — when something suddenly stirred within him.

Threads of willing-power wove together ahead of him. It was a sea of skeletal remains — vast and endless — with no one to attend to them, waiting to be transmuted into shadow soldiers. An overwhelming aura of death blanketed everything.

Ye Fan passed through it, searching for that familiar silhouette.

“Ye Fan… is that you?”

Droplets of luminous light came drifting toward him, gathering together.

Ye Fan had not expected things to go this smoothly — he had actually found An Miaoyi. He had met her. They were reunited, here within the Underworld.

“It’s me. How are you?”

“We will meet again in the next life.” The droplets of light swirled and danced around him.

This was a lingering wisp of consciousness — sustained by an attachment of the heart that refused to scatter. Once those words were spoken, it seemed to find release all at once, dimming many times over.

“The next life?” Ye Fan fell into a daze. How could this life hold so many things beyond one’s power to change? Could none of it be altered?

“You need not believe in a next life — simply follow your own Dao. Ten thousand years from now, there will be someone just like me who will meet you again…” The droplets of light grew ever more faint.

“In the next life — believe and it exists; disbelieve and it does not. The years flow on and on, and in this world, two identical flowers will eventually bloom. After a thousand, a hundred years of glancing back — one flower fades, one flower blooms,” Ye Fan murmured quietly. Bitterness and aching filled his heart. He remembered the scene of debating the Dao with the old monk, speaking of reincarnation — he had never imagined he would truly have to face it himself.

“Now that I’ve seen you, my attachment is gone. After a thousand, a hundred years, we will meet again in the mortal world. I hope you will still remember me — wake me, and don’t walk away.”

An Miaoyi’s voice faded completely into silence. The droplets of light scattered and were seen no more.

Ye Fan’s true body shuddered, then opened its eyes. He gazed out toward the Underworld, his gaze as though it had crossed a thousand years, fixed upon another vast mortal world.

After ten thousand years — would he even still exist? Could they truly meet again?

Ye Fan gently wiped the tears from his face, rose to his feet, and walked toward the horizon.

Just now, in the very instant An Miaoyi had faded away, she had transmitted to him an exceedingly important secret about the Underworld — one that would shape the future balance of power.