With a thunderous crash, golden radiance blazed across Ye Fan’s entire body. Divine marks of every kind swirled and danced as laws manifested without limit — a technique he had created by drawing upon the Golden Divine Storehouse.
But now it was not various weapons flying forth — it was living creatures of the immortal domain emerging together, ten thousand calamities descending upon his form, descending upon the mortal world.
The Roc screamed through the cosmos, spreading its wings in a single strike, shattering a river of stars. The True Dragon let out a roar — its long, immense body coiling once, and the starry sky was reduced to fine powder. The Vermillion Bird opened its mouth and breathed out, releasing endless immortal flame that burned the entire vault of heaven.
In this moment, Ye Fan became extraordinarily dangerous. His laws burst forth, first resolving his own curse, then blocking all divine spirits from the outside — divine marks shot forward, one by one crashing into them.
Boom!
At last this place exploded. Those endless divine deities were all shattered, while his own divine marks gradually dimmed.
This was a stunning secret technique assault. From the very first exchange the vault of heaven was torn apart, rivers of stars turned to dust, and this place became something terrible and dreadful. Yet the six directions of heaven and earth still held many stone steles — they had not disappeared.
“Not bad, young one. You have some ability. But it is still not enough.” Yun Heng said.
At that moment, every stele began to weep blood, the red trailing slowly downward — unsettling to behold. A powerful Imperial Dao aura radiated outward, and then a blood sea appeared, submerging this entire place.
“Enter samsara.” Yun Heng shouted.
The blood sea was boundless. Within it appeared a massive gateway, inscribed with the words “samsara,” seeking to pull Ye Fan inside.
“What is your relationship with the underworld?” Ye Fan demanded.
“You should ask what my relationship is with the Underworld Emperor.” Yun Heng replied with cool indifference.
Ye Fan felt a jolt of alarm. He had long sensed a certain resemblance between the Sea of Samsara and the underworld, and now it was confirmed. He could not help but stare hard at that figure, trying to see through to his true depth.
Boom!
The blood sea had no end, and the gateway descended, covering Ye Fan, seeking to swallow him inside.
Ye Fan was fearless. Both arms spread wide, and his pair of fists shone in resplendent brilliance. Thread after thread of immortal essence flowed outward, elevating his Dao laws to a higher level, shattering heaven and earth.
Ye Fan entered through the gateway, driving a single fist forward with savage, undefeatable force. In that moment his focus was absolute — on his two fists alone he relied to shatter everything in this world.
The Samsara Gate shook violently, bearing Ye Fan’s heavy blow, yet it remained indestructible. At last, when Ye Fan’s fists were on the verge of igniting, the gate erupted in a world-shaking explosion.
The blood sea seethed and boiled. The Samsara Gate shattered. This place was in ruins. Ye Fan stood above it, having burst out.
“After the Underworld Sovereign established the underworld, he once sought me out. We sat and discoursed on the Dao together.” Yun Heng said — an extraordinarily astonishing piece of information.
Ye Fan was deeply shaken. This must be an ancient figure so old as to be beyond reckoning.
“Later, many believed I had died. Little did they know I had taken on a different identity and entered the Sea of Samsara. The vigor of youth — those turbulent years. How I miss them.” He said softly.
He was like a demon god in nature, and yet now he wore this manner — somewhat lost in thought, somewhat dazed, reminiscing about the past. It was strange to behold.
Ye Fan understood. This was an ancient lord — one of the Nine Great Celestial Lords, a figure of mythic times, whose origins were staggeringly immense.
The Longevity Celestial Lord had believed himself to be the oldest ancient figure still alive — yet the Sea of Samsara still held one who had changed his identity and survived just as long.
“Which of the Nine Great Celestial Lords are you?” Ye Fan asked.
“What do you think?” Yun Heng smiled. The true names of the Nine Lords were far less illustrious and celebrated than their ancient titles — they had never been spread throughout the world.
“Whoever you are, you are my enemy. I will kill you regardless.” Ye Fan said coldly.
“Admirable.” Yun Heng nodded, his voice low — calm and composed.
Ye Fan noticed that the stone steles were strangely eerie — blotting out heaven and earth, severing the aura of this place, blanketing even their conversation so that it did not carry beyond.
At this moment, Yun Heng’s gaze was peculiar — fixed on Ye Fan’s body, looking again and again, a strange gleam surfacing in his eyes. It was unsettling.
“On that day when you made your move, I was your particular target — the pursuit was relentless. It seems there was a reason for that.” Ye Fan held his gaze, trying to see through to his very soul.
“I have read through the Underworld Emperor’s ancient scriptures and gained considerable enlightenment from them. I took on a different identity because I took on a different physical body along with part of my primordial spirit. What I am today can no longer be called purely myself.”
Yun Heng said with a smile, and no matter how one looked at it, the effect was somewhat frightening — white teeth flashing with a cold gleam, silver glints flickering in his eyes.
“What do you mean by this?” Ye Fan asked. The two of them had ceased fighting, entering a standoff, while their Dao laws and other forces were building in preparation — a heaven-shaking strike could erupt at any moment.
“In the age of myth, I went into hiding. In later generations, I encountered a person on the verge of attaining the Dao — just as astounding as when you underwent your tribulation. He had nearly stepped into the Imperial Dao realm. I took what was his.” Yun Heng said.
His voice was not raised, as though speaking of something perfectly ordinary. Yet it made one’s skin crawl — so terrifyingly he had seized another person’s destiny for himself.
In that age he had pushed himself to the absolute limit of self-sublimation, suppressed that person’s ascension to the Dao, taken that person’s physical body, and fused his own primordial spirit with that person’s — becoming who he was today.
“You are a monster.”
“One might say so. That person was ‘digested’ by me — the fused primordial spirit is mostly still mine.” Yun Heng said.
This too was a form of prolonging life — just as eerie as the Underworld Emperor’s method of dying at the absolute limit and being reborn. Somewhat dark and chilling.
“And now you have set your sights on me?”
“Correct. I believe you could extend my life. On that day, with so many present, the only option was to strike you repeatedly. Now, it seems possible to wager a whole life on this. You are remarkable.” Yun Heng said.
“You think you can seize my body and fuse your primordial spirit with mine?” Ye Fan laughed coldly.
“How would I know without trying? Besides, I can barely hold on much longer. If I succeed, I will be like a withered tree come back to spring. If I fail — it is only death. That is nothing so terrible.” Yun Heng said with perfect calm.
“Did you calculate that I would come for you, and so prepared yourself?” Ye Fan asked.
“Not exactly. I was very hesitant. Had you not forced my hand, I might have hidden away a while longer — and waited until you attempted to become an emperor before seeking you out.” Yun Heng said with a slight smile.
He had lived so long that, though he hoped for continued life, he was no longer particularly afraid of death. He had experienced too much.
“Then today, it is you who will die.” Ye Fan shouted.
He gave everything he had and struck out — infinite divine radiance exploded forth, releasing the most brilliant of lights. He stood within the divine forbidden domain and swung the Celestial Emperor’s fist, charging forward.
His combat power surged at terrifying speed, reaching a staggering level. Imperial Dao aura saturated the air — to be able to challenge a great emperor was not mere talk.
This place blazed with scorching brilliance. Many stone steles exploded — no longer able to endure the pressure. Yet the inscriptions on the steles were indestructible, transforming into laws that intertwined throughout the space.
Between the two of them, the most savage battle erupted.
This battle shook heaven and earth and made ghosts and gods weep. Every corner of the cosmos was stunned. Every living creature trembled. The Imperial Dao aura was too terrifying — battles of this kind were extraordinarily rare throughout all of history.
“The divine forbidden domain is a basic quality of a great emperor. It counts for nothing.” Yun Heng said, ascending to that same domain as well, matching Ye Fan within it.
Boom!
Ye Fan unleashed his divine manifestation. Around him, the sun and moon, mountains and rivers appeared. An immortal king descended from the nine heavens. All manner of chaotic phenomena densely overlapped, interweaving into a world of chaos — seeking to swallow Yun Heng inside.
Fierce fighting erupted. All the laws of the Imperial Dao formed from the stele inscriptions poured inside, were shattered, and dissolved into the most fundamental immortal light, surging outward in every direction.
“Sublimate to the absolute limit now. Otherwise you will have no chance.” Ye Fan said.
“Do not trouble yourself over my affairs. The most wonderful moment will come in due time.” Though Yun Heng said these words, he was not in the least bit careless. He brought out every last technique, even unleashing his weapon.
The precious vase in Yun Heng’s hand blazed with light. The silver sea that had been drawn inside now surged outward — like endless immortal essence, brimming with laws of the supreme great Dao, aimed at killing Ye Fan absolutely.
That was the Sea of Samsara — a profoundly terrifying substance.
“Come.” Yun Heng let out a great roar. His whole body blazed with light as he summoned a wondrous thing, calling it from across the Northern Dipper star region.
It was a small, crystalline lake — rising up from the shattered Sacred Cliff, shooting swiftly toward the high sky, then disappearing into the cosmos.
“The Lake of Samsara — can it be that the Underworld Emperor has emerged?”
“No, it is the one in battle within the cosmos who is calling for it. He cannot be the Underworld Emperor.”
Even the inhabitants of the Forbidden Zones were startled in that moment.
The small lake was crystalline and clear. It entered the cosmic battlefield, then merged as one with the Sea of Samsara, and in that instant it became something entirely different — as though it could reflect one’s past lives and present existence, causing one to lose oneself within.
“This is something left behind when the Underworld Emperor shed his old self. I studied his ancient scriptures and borrowed it for today’s use.” Yun Heng said.
Ye Fan was shaken. He had of course seen this small lake before — in years past, both the old madman and Xiao Nannan had stood transfixed before it, and Xiao Nannan had even glimpsed a corner of the future through it.
“The Lake of Samsara… was actually left behind by the Underworld Emperor.” This was the first time Ye Fan had heard this.
There were three things in the world that were extraordinarily eerie and mysterious — the Lake of Samsara, the Divine Soul Pool, and the Flying Immortal Waterfall. In truth, all of them were things left behind by supreme beings in pursuit of eternal life. Ye Fan had already encountered two of them, yet how each functioned and what wonders they held, he did not fully understand.
That crystalline lake water fell into the sea, giving the entire expanse of seawater a living soul. It submerged Ye Fan, seeking to reflect his past lives and his present existence.
“Savor it to your heart’s content.” Yun Heng said.
This was something even he himself would not wade into — for it was too eerie. It might reflect the future, but all manner of unpredictable events might also occur. Even after the Underworld Emperor had shed his old self and been reborn, he had abandoned it.
“Kill!”
Ye Fan let out a great roar. He had no desire to come into contact with something like this — cause and effect, the future — such things were beyond reckoning. He only believed in the present moment. He drove a fist forward, intent on shattering it completely.
The great battle erupted, both of them giving their lives without hesitation.
Ye Fan surged through the Sea of Samsara, stirring up boundless crashing waves. His divine manifestation fused into one, blocking off this substance — not a single drop touched him.
He spread both arms wide, his two hands forming seal after seal, manifesting suns, moons, and rivers of stars at his fingertips — all the countless domains of every heaven. He was like a god, driving these celestial bodies forward.
Creation of heaven and earth.
With supreme divine power, Ye Fan opened up small worlds here, one after another — in the blink of an eye, more than a thousand — and then detonated them all at once.
Boom!
A thousand small worlds were pulverized. The Sea of Samsara was blasted dry, its water droplets shooting in every direction throughout the cosmos.
Boom!
Yun Heng gripped the immortal-tear green gold vase in both hands, aimed it directly at Ye Fan, and from it erupted the most blazing and scorching of light — the most absolute laws of the Imperial Dao, like the destruction of an entire world.
Above Ye Fan’s head the Cauldron of Myriad Mother Energies rose and fell. On the cauldron wall ten thousand living creatures appeared all at once. Within the cauldron’s mouth, primordial energy billowed and spread, like a vast world of the immortal domain pressing down and forward.
Clang!
A brilliant flash of light burst forth. The terrifying Imperial Dao laws collided — this place was annihilated, and destruction became the defining theme.
“Which of the Nine Great Celestial Lords are you? Without sublimating to the absolute limit, you have no chance.” Ye Fan said.
“I fear that once I sublimate, restoring the might of my former days, it will frighten a great many people. Some will be very afraid.” Yun Heng said, a gleam flickering in his eyes.
“Kill!” Ye Fan roared.
And in that moment, Yun Heng’s aura transformed. Radiance blazed between his brows. His entire body shone with light as he began to push toward the absolute limit of self-sublimation, seeking to restore the power of his former glory — his true identity would surface at last.