A great general of his age — once glorious, once undefeatable, once radiant beyond all others — had come to an end in this life.
Just as he himself had lamented in his desolation, this was no longer his age. This was not the primordial era in his heart. All glory had been buried in the past, never to return.
The arrival of a golden age, an era of strife and war — destined to be a sky blazing with stars, and surely far more terrifying than the age they had known.
And Ye Fan — who had emerged from among ancient imperial sons, forged in that crucible of sovereigns — was naturally the most fearsome of all. To have encountered him was Kuntian’s fate. The Divine General Kuntian could only swallow his resentment in defeat.
Such individuals were rare throughout all of history. In Kuntian’s own era, among the same cultivation level, only the young ancient emperor could have matched Ye Fan — few others would have been capable.
This was no longer their primordial age — but it was the great era of this young man!
The Divine General Kuntian was dead. In his final moments, the violet flame of his primordial spirit had stared unblinking at Ye Fan, trying to see through him entirely — and in the end, it could only exhale one last sigh.
In this age, this man was the one. This was the era that belonged to this young and mighty figure, blazing with light bright as a god. The old ones such as himself were meant to pass away — they could no longer match what came after.
Everyone was shaken. Ye Fan had blown the Divine General Kuntian apart. His robes unstained by blood, he walked the path of the boundless Dao — his bearing peerless and transcendent. Standing there, his gaze like lightning, his presence swallowing mountains and rivers, he surveyed the eight directions with sovereign authority.
“Kuntian — aahhh—!”
The Sun-and-Moon Divine General let out a long, anguished roar. His hair flew wild in every direction. He looked young — barely twenty years of age in appearance — possessed of a heroic and imposing bearing, yet his eyes held the accumulated marks of countless ages. He burned with the desire to charge forward instantly.
He was blocked by the great-bearded quasi-emperor from the Dao Palace’s side and could not pass.
Ye Fan stood beneath the star field, immovable, his expression cold and remote — as though nothing in existence could shake the root of his heart. Not even one who had followed the Immortal Heavenly Emperor himself.
His gaze swept all directions. The fighting was extraordinarily brutal. In distant star domains, all was boiling — countless powerful warriors locked in great battle, races beyond number, every major clan of the cosmos swept up in this vast upheaval.
The deep drumbeats continued ceaselessly — like a Heavenly Emperor in fury, deafening and relentless, sending every person’s blood churning within them.
Atop the Phoenix Nest, the Immortal Heavenly Empress stood with sovereign pride, her figure tall and slender, her beauty beyond all description — gossamer strands of hair drifting on the wind, her jade-pale face cold and remote. She possessed a wordless and ineffable grace — truly a figure of transcendent, unparalleled splendor!
She was striking the drum. The Heavenly Emperor’s Drum — of what material it was made, no one knew — its body an entirely crimson gold in color. Each strike sent a burst of blinding light flying outward, like ripples spreading on water, until at last the ripples grew into a vast forbidden sea that shook the cosmos.
This drum was extraordinary — its sound ignited the battle blood of the Immortal Heavenly Emperor’s followers, drawing out every last drop of their potential, exploding their power to a shocking level of combat strength that all others feared. At the same time, the drumbeats suppressed the enemy — heavily affecting the powerful warriors fighting for the Heavenly Court, the Dao Palace, and the Divine Organization.
But this situation was not without its counter. The divine elder blew the war horn and pressed forward step by step, advancing toward the Phoenix Nest under the protection of the White-Haired Sword Deity, the Wood-Chopping Elder, and a host of powerful warriors.
This war horn — from what creature it had been born, no one could say — was dim and lightless, but when blown it cried out with a vigorous, domineering, and desolate tone, painting for all who heard it the image of a vast and primordial world — gods coexisting, races without count, a wilderness scent crashing full in the face.
The Emperor Sovereign’s war horn could cancel out the sound of the drum, and could also strengthen the combat power of one’s own forces.
These were two heaven-defying sovereign-path divine artifacts. Like Wushi the Great Emperor’s Scroll of God-Sealing, they were priceless beyond measure, possessing boundless divine might!
“Fight! Kill every last one of them! Uphold the oath! Guard the honor of the Immortal Heavenly Emperor — slaughter them all to the last!”
“Kill! Strike down every traitor within the Immortal Heavenly Emperor’s lineage! For the Emperor Sovereign! For the ancient Heavenly Court! For the glory of those days — a battle to the death — to sever the cause and effect of past lives and this one!”
This place erupted in war cries that shook the heavens. Sword energy cleaved through the sky, and every beam of cold light shattered several stars in passing. Brilliant radiance exploded in every direction. An immeasurable army crashed forward.
Blood rose into the air. Heads tumbled down. Countless lives blazed in fierce release, the brutal battle pressing onward. How many powerful warriors from across the cosmos had come to join the fray — the sight was awe-inspiring and terrifying in equal measure.
“Master — we’re here!” From the distance, a voice shouted. This was a fresh wave of reinforcements — a young and powerful warrior blazing with ten thousand feet of golden light, his blood energy surging as he cut a path through the enemy.
The Phoenix Nest’s forces surged and rolled like waves of grain in the wind. Countless of them fell, never to rise again. Yang Xi had appeared — he was unharmed, having suffered no great injury.
Ye Tong and Xiao Song appeared as well — the two of them had gone and found Yang Xi, bringing him back.
All three were now quasi-emperors. This revelation sent every power and faction reeling, unable to find their composure. Three quasi-emperors from a single master-disciple lineage — it was nothing short of a miracle!
Ye Fan’s three disciples had all reached this realm. How was anyone else to survive in the same era? Even the mere thought of it was frightening. Everyone understood now why the Immortal Heavenly Empress had moved so urgently to eliminate these three individuals.
If they were not suppressed now, how would anyone resist them in the future?
Ye Fan and each of his disciples were gifted beyond comprehension — every single one of them possessed astonishing potential and ability. Left to continue on this path, they would become the great enemies of every power in the cosmos.
And indeed — the moment those three appeared, they were like a mountain flood breaking loose, sweeping through all before them, crushing every powerful warrior in their path, no adversary finding a foothold.
Boom!
A thunderous tremor sounded. A silhouette wreathed in dim black fog appeared, leaping from the Phoenix Nest and driving downward toward Ye Fan’s three disciples. The moment his aura erupted, cracks sounded from the cosmos in all four directions, as though it were splitting apart.
“The Shadow Demon God!”
Someone cried out in alarm — this was none other than the Shadow Demon God, the third-ranked among the Eight Divine Generals!
Of the eight divine generals who had once followed the Immortal Heavenly Emperor, it was confirmed that four had passed into nirvana over the course of history and had not survived. Additionally, the First Divine General’s whereabouts were unknown, his fate uncertain.
Among the three divine generals that had appeared so far, the Shadow Demon God was the mightiest!
“You wish to kill these juniors? First, pass through this old one!” The old man with a mouthful of yellow teeth appeared — and in this moment he was no longer the least bit shabby, his aura blazing like a rainbow, looking down upon all creation, blocking the Shadow Demon God’s advance.
It had to be said — the Shadow Demon God was terrifyingly powerful. Black fog spread and surged, blotting out the sky and blanketing the sun, swallowing this entire region of the cosmos. No one could advance to offer assistance.
Everyone retreated. The entire star domain trembled, collapsing periodically in patches.
The old man with the yellow teeth found himself in a very dire situation. The moment their blows exchanged, he nearly bled — not because he lacked strength, but because his opponent was simply too formidable. He swiftly steadied his mind and committed to a fight to the death.
The emergence of the Shadow Demon God had shaken many people — but had also steadied the nerves of many more.
“The remnants of the Heavenly Court are not capable of anything significant!” The Immortal Heavenly Empress declared coldly while beating the war drum, her towering arrogance driving a breath of rage into the divine elder’s chest, which became an even fiercer cry from the war horn.
In the ages of old, had the Immortal Heavenly Emperor not struck the Emperor Sovereign with the Immortal Bell, how could it have come to this? Perhaps the Heavenly Court would have entered the immortal realm, giving birth to a legend of eternal life.
Yet what was the world now? The Heavenly Court had fallen, no legend had come to pass, and the Immortal Heavenly Emperor had instead left behind a reputation of ten thousand ages — revered as a being beyond god. How could the descendants of the Heavenly Court ever accept that?
The ripples bursting from the war horn clashed violently with the blazing golden light of the Heavenly Emperor’s Drum, affecting the battlefield — the powerful warriors of this domain threw their lives aside and charged forward to kill.
At that moment, the Wood-Chopping Elder drew the broken firewood blade from his back. An earth-shaking aura erupted outward. White and blinding sword light surged from the ancient, unassuming blade, awe-inspiring to the cosmos.
He stepped forward. He was going to make a move on the Immortal Heavenly Empress — to win greater initiative for the divine elder, to allow the Emperor Sovereign’s war horn to resound through all the stars.
In this instant, everyone held their breath. The pinnacle experts were about to clash — those on the verge of attaining the Dao represented the absolute highest level of combat power in the current world. Who was capable of matching such a contest?
Boom!
Suddenly, a tide of corpse energy surged to the heavens. From within the darkness, a colossal entity stepped out, appearing beside the Phoenix Nest. A massive cyan-colored claw reached out and collided with the sword light — the impact rang out sharp and metallic!
The forces of the underworld had come — and had directly deployed one of their major figures!
“The master of the Yama Palace?” The Wood-Chopping Elder’s expression grew grave. This entire space turned utterly desolate and foreboding. Ghostly mist billowed everywhere, leaving every person feeling a bone-deep chill.
The underworld’s forces had arrived. Their presence alone was enough to change the course of the battle. The power of this being was too terrifying — enough to make every hero and champion in the world wary.
“Hmm — I only hold the Yama Palace in temporary stewardship. The title of ‘master’ is still far above me,” the Yama Palace’s major figure corrected. He was not yet a supreme — the title truly could not be applied to him.
Even more daunting was what came next. In the distance, ghostly fog surged and yin thunder crackled. A vast and terrifying shadow appeared — an endless army from the underworld had arrived. Among those leading the charge were beings of immense power — battle-slaves resurrected from the corpses of quasi-emperors, as well as those who retained full consciousness. The moment they appeared, the casualties on Ye Fan’s side were enormous.
Poof!
The great-bearded quasi-emperor who had been locked in battle with the Sun-and-Moon Divine General was struck by a terrifying yin spirit in a combined assault — two powerful figures hunting him at once — leaving him heavily wounded, barely escaping death, coughing up great mouthfuls of blood.
The underworld army moved swiftly. The moment they appeared they generated an immense crushing force, their destructive power horrifying beyond description!
On another flank, the old man with yellow teeth was also roaring in fury. He and the Shadow Demon God had already spilled blood across the star field — and at this moment, another powerful battle-slave came rushing in.
The arrival of the underworld army had nearly caused their side to collapse. These fighters were too powerful — the underworld had deployed its most elite forces. Some of these beings were quasi-emperor corpses that had been nurtured and cultivated for heaven knew how many tens of thousands of years.
Poof!
Blood shot up high. A group of Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals were overwhelmed. The underworld had opened with a great massacre — swift and ferocious, giving no time for reaction, making every powerful warrior from every faction tremble.
The resurrected quasi-emperor corpses led the charge at the very front, driving like a spear through their formation — who could stop them?
The great-bearded elder, the old man with the yellow teeth, Yang Xi, and the others were all nearly overwhelmed. The assault was too savage. Ye Fan’s hair flew in fury, and he moved immediately, charging forward to cut through them.
Boom!
In the distance, a blurred silhouette appeared. One palm descended — and the surging tide of yin soldiers dimmed all at once, forty percent of them dead, the entire star domain in that region split open.
Gu Xin’ao had appeared. He had answered Xiao Song’s summons and struck with full force, blocking this army and cutting down a swath of powerful enemies.
“Well-earned the title of one who could alone block ten thousand — on the path of the ancient emperors!” remarked the Yama Palace major figure who had been standing in standoff against the Wood-Chopping Elder, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. So many powerful yin spirits dead — the pain of the loss was immense.
Boom!
Another palm — this time Ye Fan’s supreme offensive strike. Three of the foremost ancient corpse quasi-emperors were shattered in a single blow. Corpse flesh rained in every direction, black blood sprayed up high — a sight to shake the soul.
“Scripture of Crossing Souls!”
Ye Fan called out, signaling the other group of Heavenly Court followers who had been prepared in advance to take the stage. They settled cross-legged in the void and began reciting the scripture in unison, the sound reverberating through the entire star field.
Gu Xin’ao withdrew from the battlefield immediately to go guard Xiao Song and the others.
As the vast recitation rose, the cosmos itself shuddered. Holy runes filled the sky. The yin soldier army howled and roared, struck by the most terrible impact they had encountered.
The color drained from the Yama Palace administrator’s face. In a frosty voice he said: “It seems we truly cannot let any of you remain.” His gaze fixed on Ye Fan, and cyan pupils shot out a vicious and ferocious light.
Ye Fan let out a cold laugh, crooking a finger toward him and saying: “Unhappy about it? Come here. I’ll cut you down.”