Those were fragments of time—scattered across every corner of the cosmos. The true scene could not be seen. Only fragments of broken images.

Clearly, that stretch of the cosmos had been shattered!

The young man’s eyes were so clear—so full of spirit—completely focused. The pitch-black hard bow in his hands was drawn back. There was no arrow. He summoned an entire river of stars, condensing them into a single cosmic divine arrow that contained all the essence of his spirit—capable of splitting the heavens and opening the earth!

And in the distance, from the broken seal of the underworld, an ancient figure stepped forth. He was clad in black armor—entirely dark from head to toe, the armor covering even his face and eyes.

Only the dark light moved, flowing. The aura of death, even separated by what must have been countless star systems, still made people tremble—like facing a deity that had died.

This was a terrifying supreme being. Before he became the Nethervoid Emperor, his body’s past life had been an emperor-level existence—one who had participated in the creation of all things, beyond compare.

Now he stepped out from the underworld—like an immortal demon come to destroy the world!

The young man was fearless. His face blazed ever brighter. He stood beneath the starfield—black hair flying—sovereign over all!

A pity—people could only witness this single moment. The rest of the images dissolved once more into fragments of time, scattering toward the eight wilds, never to be seen again.

People understood: the young man had made his move against the Nethervoid Emperor!

A peerless war general of the Ancient Heavenly Court—a heaven-defying existence, and not merely in name. He had truly charged into the life forbidden zone of the mythic age to slay an emperor—a battle to the death.

Dong!

From the deepest reaches of the cosmos came the sound of a world shattering. Terrifying laws spread outward. Everyone trembled—but ultimately, there was no way to witness the battle.

“Kill!”

For a brief moment, people had lost their focus. Now they returned to reality and threw themselves back into the decisive battle. This was a canvas painted in blood. The great war continued.

Ye Fan had slain the Third Divine General. At his side, no one else dared approach. No powerful cultivator came close—this was a dominance earned in blood. Everywhere he passed, all withdrew.

On the battlefield, Ye Tong, Little Song, Yang Xi, Mountain Phoenix, the bearded man, and the others had nearly stabilized the situation. Now only the decisive struggle for the Phoenix Nest remained, along with the Woodcutter Elder’s battle against the Yanluo Lord.

Boom!

Ye Fan held nothing back any longer. The moment had come. Above his head, the Treasure Vessel of the Great Dao rose and fell. The Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven appeared—radiating immortal brilliance.

“What? An imperial weapon!”

The gathered powerful on the battlefield trembled. Another imperial weapon had appeared—and of all things, it was that most legendary, most world-shaking object across ten thousand ages: the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven. How could they not feel fear?

About this supreme vessel, there were far too many legends.

It was said that if one’s divine power was sufficient—if one could drive it and refine it to the necessary level—the Ruthless Great Emperor would reappear, descend upon this world once more, and take control of life, death, and reincarnation. None could oppose her.

Because this vessel had been refined from her own body—the first life she had buried there, and the laws and soul of the primal spirit she had left behind from her transformation.

In all the world, no great emperor was more mysterious than she. Even her life or death remained unknown to this day—for there had always been legends of her immortality. No one knew how many lifetimes she had actually lived.

And this demon jar—it had not been shattered even in the dark and tumultuous period three hundred years ago, when it had clashed directly against supreme beings. It had emerged immortal. How deep and terrifying was its dark power?

As a Holy Body, the most formidable thing about Ye Fan was his blood energy. His vital spirit surged like an ocean—shaking the starfields of ten thousand ages—as though an imperial lord had been reborn.

His entire body blazed with light. He drove the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven with all his might, sweeping the field—no one could stop him. The yin soldier forces and the Phoenix Nest’s troops suddenly had great voids torn in them. Everywhere he walked was built of white bones and blood. Not one person remained standing.

This was the path of a great emperor. This was the Dao of one who could not be defeated. There was no longer a single opponent to be found.

Then he turned his might on the Phoenix Nest. Surging blood energy, shrouding the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven, he drove it into that enormous ancient nest—summoning every last ounce of his strength.

Ye Fan was already at the Quasi-Emperor Sixth Heavenly Layer. His blood surged. With a sea of vital spirit to refine an imperial weapon—reactivating the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven—naturally posed no problem.

Rumble. Rumble.

The sky quaked. The stars trembled. The entire world was collapsing. Extreme-path divine might erupted. Endless auspicious light gushed forth.

Everyone fled. Anyone who stood in the path had no choice but to die. Under the pressure of the extreme path, even great sages could only explode—reduced to blood and mud, unable to withstand even a blow.

Wherever the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven went, there was no longer a single opponent.

Hum!

The Phoenix Nest came apart. The Undying Empress, standing atop it, let a trickle of blood escape the corner of her mouth. Her cold gaze swept over—but she could stop nothing. Her duel with the Old God had reached its most ferocious stage.

Ye Fan drove the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven and struck open this immortal nest built from Phoenix Wood. The nest itself was a dharma vessel—engraved with dense runes, countless and close-packed—but now it could no longer bear the force.

Within it were even imperial runes left by the Immortal Heavenly Emperor himself—but the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven possessed a terrifying devouring power that consumed those rune energies whole.

The trapped White-Haired Sword God burst out. And the yellow-toothed old man transformed into a beam of light, slipping in and out of the crumbling Phoenix Nest—gathering treasure with unchecked abandon.

“You forced me to this!” The Undying Empress shrieked, her breathtaking face now twisted.

“I am not forcing you—I am going to kill you,” Ye Fan said coldly.

In recent days, every time he closed his eyes, his heart was unsettled. He kept seeing visions of a future: the desolate ten thousand years, the cold ten thousand years, the bleak ten thousand years—they filled him with unbearable anguish.

That glimpsed corner of the future would not let him rest. He could not close his eyes. Pang Bo, Li Heishui, and the others had all died in battle. Ye Tong and Little Song had been struck by the Undying Empress and the Underworld’s overlords—blasted to powder, their blood spattering across the river of stars—pitiable beyond description.

Ji Ziyue had dissolved into blood, buried among the ruins. And little Xiao Zi—so small, so young—had not escaped her fate either. When he saw these things, it was blood. When he closed his eyes, it was this. He could not sleep at night. Every moment was spent in anxiety.

That was why Ye Fan had launched this battle without counting the cost—expending every last bit of his strength. Waiting passively for calamity to arrive was not his way. He would change all of this—and to do it, he had to kill the Undying Empress first.

Boom!

Ye Fan drove the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven and delivered a relentless series of blows against the Undying Empress—so intensely that even his primal spirit began to blaze.

The Undying Empress and the Old God were locked in a deadlock—both wielding terrible dharma vessels left by ancient emperors—but now the balance was broken. She took a direct heavy strike and coughed blood in great mouthfuls.

Ye Fan’s heart pulsed with a start. He pulled back at the right moment—for he had sensed something wrong on the other part of the battlefield. The Woodcutter Elder and the Yanluo Lord were both burning divine blood. They were going all out.

Clearly the Yanluo Lord sensed that the tide had turned against him. Knowing the situation was lost, he was attempting to break through and flee—and the Woodcutter Elder was expending everything to hold him back.

“Kill!”

Ye Fan took one step forward. The art of the movement character unfolded with divine precision—his mastery of this profound truth had long since reached its pinnacle. Spacetime froze. He was at the Yanluo Lord’s side in an instant. He drove the demon jar and smashed it down.

Rumble!

This was a great decisive battle. The Yanluo Lord’s black war spear—its death energy vast as an ocean—met the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven head on. A resonant clang rang out, and sparks erupted like a river of stars cascading down.

“Junior—a mere few hundred years of cultivation, and you dare come to bully me?!” The Yanluo Lord’s face twisted with fury. The massive horns atop his head pulsed with demonic light. His cyan dragon claws were fearsome to behold. He stood with spear in hand, his wrath a natural force of its own.

“This is no longer your era. The curtain must fall. Everything will belong to our generation!” Ye Fan said without mercy, and struck again.

Rumble! The divine prohibition triggered. Combat power surged at tremendous speed. The demon jar above him flew open—its mouth aimed forward, unleashing endless immortal light, bombarding the Yanluo Lord.

He stood at the Quasi-Emperor Sixth Heavenly Layer. To duel a would-be emperor who likewise held an imperial weapon—he was at an absolute disadvantage. But with the divine prohibition triggered, the gap was instantly closed. He could fight!

The Yanluo Lord’s eyes burst with two beams of cyan light. To have cultivated to this realm, he was naturally among the most terrifying of beings. He too could trigger the divine prohibition—but it could not be done at will. The realization filled him with profound dread. Ye Fan had to be eliminated—otherwise he would one day become the most fearsome enemy the Underworld had ever faced.

In some distant perception, the Yanluo Lord seemed already to glimpse a great emperor’s rise. He had to stop this transformation—sever Ye Fan’s path before it was too late.

Boom!

Imperial weapons collided, and the Woodcutter Elder made his move too!

“I’ll lock down that death spear—you focus on ending him!” The Woodcutter Elder said.

Ye Fan nodded. The two acted in concert.

“Ahh…!”

The Yanluo Lord roared. He shattered the void—but the Cyan Emperor’s Lotus and the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven drove him back with raw force. He had no way to escape.

The Woodcutter Elder expended every last art he possessed. With the cyan lotus, he pinned down the death nether spear—locking it in place so that it could not break free.

The Yanluo Lord’s expression filled with horror. The Woodcutter Elder was not striking at him—only responsible for restraining his weapon. And Ye Fan, wielding the Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven, erupted with the supreme extreme-path emperor’s might, rolling forward to crush him.

“Let me show you that the gap cannot be bridged—not even with the divine prohibition! I am about to attain the Dao. My depth of practice and my comprehension of the imperial realm are beyond what any divine prohibition can reach!”

The Yanluo Lord roared. Gripping the nether spear and refusing to let go—matching the Woodcutter Elder in a standoff—he simultaneously strained to attack Ye Fan: the black long spear erupted with threads of light, shooting forward.

“Say what you will—your era has ended! We will rise in this age, and we will swear to level the Underworld!” Ye Fan bellowed.

The demon jar’s lid flew up. The jar’s mouth aimed forward, aligned with the Yanluo Lord—then detonated with a ferocious bombardment. A hundred million beams of light swallowed everything in sight.

Clang!

The death nether spear and the Cyan Emperor’s Lotus both shook and rattled—straining against the divine might. This stretch of space fell into chaos.

“Not enough!” The Yanluo Lord struck back.

Though the nether spear could not be retrieved, he could still channel his own laws through it and release them outward—using it to resist both opponents simultaneously. In his desperate all-out eruption, he unleashed combat power beyond his ordinary limits.

“Not enough? Then let’s keep fighting!” Ye Fan roared.

He stood within the divine prohibition’s domain—overturning heaven and earth, his power inexhaustible—forcing the surrounding star systems to collapse. The gathered powerful were terror-stricken. All of them fled. This stretch of the battlefield was cleared.

Ye Fan invoked the all-encompassing character secret. His entire being roared with martial spirit. His combat power shot to the absolute zenith of his life—a height never previously reached!

Here, now, the all-encompassing character secret could only be deployed within the divine prohibition domain—comprehensively elevating every aspect of the body. Whether combat power, speed, or primal spirit—all were directly elevated and refined, tenfold!

This was a heaven-defying secret art. Though difficult to deploy, its conditions many and strict—once this state was achieved, once it was unleashed, the sun, moon, and mountains would lose their color. Heaven and earth would be torn open!

“Is this… a great emperor?” Everyone was shaken—every last one of them—as they sensed strand after strand of emperor’s aura.

The great emperor’s domain had a barrier that blocked all those below that rank from encroaching—limiting every method used to break through. Yet in this moment, people seemed to sense something—a certain aura.

The Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven flew up, then fell crashing down—forcing the Yanluo Lord to release his grip on the nether spear. Three imperial weapons flew simultaneously outward.

Ye Fan stood sovereign over the world. His dense black hair flew. In this moment, every person present could not stop themselves from wanting to bow. A faint trace of imperial path pressure manifested—there but not quite there.

Perhaps not much inferior to that First Divine General of the Ancient Heavenly Court?

Ye Fan made his move. Close-range, hand-to-hand—a great duel against the Lord of the Yanluo Palace. No weapons—only the purest contest of strength.

“Kill!”

Boom!

Fist through flesh—every blow landing.

This was a decisive battle beyond ordinary imagination. Ye Fan against the Yanluo Lord. He stood at the highest point of his life—the absolute peak of his being—unleashing power unmatched in the world.

“Ahh…!”

The Yanluo Lord roared. His entire body was drenched in blood. Though he resisted with everything he had—though he was ruthlessly dominant, though his combat power defied heaven—he was shattered by Ye Fan’s Celestial Emperor’s Fist. His primal spirit alone fled, transforming into a beam of cyan light and cutting through spacetime to escape.

The Demon Jar That Devours the Heaven flew up. From its mouth, threads of immortal light—one after another—drew the spirit in. The demon jar’s lid snapped shut. Clang. And then—silence.

The Yanluo Lord’s body collapsed—his massive frame blown apart in every direction, scattered across the starfield. Beneath Ye Fan’s feet, the path was laid—built of blood and bone—extending all the way to where he stood.

Everyone understood: no one in this age—no one in this era—could any longer stand in the way of Ye Fan’s path to emperorhood. A great emperor was about to rise in this age!