One battle drew to its close. Yao Guang had perished — leaving people with complex and tangled feelings. A cultivator battles his whole life — contending with heaven, contending with earth, contending with others, contending with himself. In the end, what has been won? What remains?
Nothing but a pile of bones.
“Battle-Victorious Buddha — wake up!”
A sound of anguished howling reached them. A group of people had surrounded the Old Sacred Ape, all wearing expressions of desperate urgency.
Ye Fan was covered in blood, dragging his gravely injured body forward. Everyone made way, opening a path — even the Golden Crow Great Emperor, Yin Tiande, and Zhang Bairen had no intention of stepping forward.
By now, he possessed an indescribable peerless and supreme dominance. Though his injuries were severe, he still struck awe into the nine heavens and ten earths — one sweep of his gaze left people shivering with dread.
The Old Battle-Victorious Buddha’s entire body was glowing, the process of dissolving into the Dao had already begun. As a powerful fighter of this caliber, no one dared to touch him — doing so would cause them to ascend and transform alongside him. Every person present wore a look of grief.
He had actually been due for his passing into nirvana a hundred years ago. It was only because Ye Fan had infused some of the ancient emperor’s blood into his body that he had lived these additional hundred years. And this time, he had come by sheer force of will — only wanting to see Ye Fan’s battle with the Chaos Physique.
Ye Fan made his move, performing a supreme secret technique. His right hand traced a beautiful arc — he drew the Battle-Victorious Buddha into himself, transforming him into a bolt of lightning that swiftly rushed back toward the Heavenly Court.
The monkey, Xiao Song, and the other powerful fighters of the Heavenly Court receded like a tide, following after him. Worry filled their hearts. Everyone understood: the Battle-Victorious Buddha could not survive. Perhaps all they could do was see him off on his final journey.
The mythological battlefield was utterly silent. No one had expected the outcome to be like this.
“What a pity — Yao Guang deserved to be called one generation’s outstanding hero.”
Beyond this, what else could people say? The joys and sorrows of the cultivator, the fall of the strong, the dimming of the supremely gifted — perhaps they too would one day experience this very thing.
The news from this place spread to every corner of the cosmos, stirring a great wave of feeling.
Within the Heavenly Court, Ye Fan placed the Old Battle-Victorious Buddha on a divine mountain, then ordered people to invite the Shencan Princess — for there was truly very little time left.
“Is there truly no way?” The members of the Heavenly Court were desolate and heartbroken. Many looked toward Ye Fan.
The monkey’s eyes were also brimming with tears. He was a fierce and unyielding man — yet at this moment he could not hold it back. His uncle, his only family left in this world, was going to die. The depth of his sorrow was beyond words.
Ye Fan, heedless of his own injuries, forced out from his wounds a stream of refined blood — crystalline and glistening, carrying a kind of faint fragrance. He moved to infuse it into the Battle-Victorious Buddha’s body to prolong his life.
“No need to waste it. It is time for me to pass into nirvana. Surely I am not going to imitate the supreme beings of the Forbidden Zones and linger on by relying upon another’s blood?”
“Wait for me…” The Shencan Princess had arrived. Her eyes were filled with tears. She moved to reach out and touch the Battle-Victorious Buddha’s face.
Everyone was alarmed. Touching him in this way might draw the Shencan Princess into dissolving into the Dao along with him — not everyone was as powerful as Ye Fan.
Ye Fan made his move again. A ball of gentle light flew from the center of his palm, enveloping the Shencan Princess and allowing her to approach.
“All of you need not grieve. Life and death, old age and illness — who can avoid them? We of our generation have walked the heavenward road our entire lives. Can we not see through even this final extinction?”
The Battle-Victorious Buddha was very free and easy — yet in this world there were far too many who could not let go.
“I have a method to suppress the Battle-Victorious Buddha and then seal him within an immortal source — he can be kept in this state, and whether to prolong his life can be left for the future to decide,” Ye Fan said.
“I was sealed from the primordial era into this present age — one age after another. That kind of slumber, like withered wood, void of life — what meaning does it have? Better to return from whence I came,” the Battle-Victorious Buddha replied. Seeing the grief of those present, he continued: “People must all die eventually. Everything I was meant to experience, I have experienced. What is there to be unsatisfied with? What matters most to a person is the fulfillment of the heart. In these final years, I have no regrets.”
He spoke with great simplicity and plainness. Then he pointed a finger outward, and a blurry world appeared — evolving a vision of the mortal world of ordinary people, with time flowing by quickly, showing the births and deaths of common folk.
“We are the same as they are, only our lifespans are somewhat longer. Their joys and sorrows, their elation and anger — we have them all, just as they do. Look at that old farmer dying in peace and tranquility — is that not also a blessing?”
Unable to live forever, unable to enter the immortal realm — everyone would ultimately perish. It was only a matter of the length of time.
The Battle-Victorious Buddha had lived through the era of the most extreme glory when his elder brother was in the world, and had also lived through the age of great upheaval after his elder brother’s fall — wife separated, nephew scattered. A million years later, in this present age, he had also experienced and witnessed the most magnificent of prosperous eras. The fire of life was about to go out — yet he had no regrets.
“I will accompany you on the road!” The Shencan Princess wiped her tears and smiled.
In the end, the Battle-Victorious Buddha passed into nirvana.
In the brilliant rain of radiant light, the Shencan Princess dissolved into the Dao as well. People moved to stop her — Ye Fan held her body still, but he could not hold still her heart. In the end he sighed in resignation.
Yet the Shencan Princess was deeply content. Within that rain of radiant light, she and the Battle-Victorious Buddha walked together.
The two departed this world together — and the Heavenly Court fell into great grief.
“Uncle — Auntie!” The monkey cried out. Tears rolled down ceaselessly.
“Take care of your sorrow, Elder Martial Uncle. The Battle-Victorious Buddha departed with ease. The two of them left the world with smiles,” Flower consoled him.
Everyone stepped forward together. Though grief was present, it was not entirely desolate — for the two had passed away with expressions of contented smiling. Perhaps for them, that was the truest blessing.
Apart from the monkey, there was also that little Shencan, who howled and wept bitterly, seemingly on the verge of death from grief — and was eventually dragged away by Xiao Nannan.
Half a year later, a wizened and aged elderly person came to the Heavenly Court, laying flowers before the graves of the Battle-Victorious Buddha and the Shencan Princess, and said: “We are all old. It is time to draw the curtains. I hope you won’t mind my becoming your neighbor.”
“You are…”
“My name is Gu Tianshu.” The white-robed elder introduced himself.
The Black Emperor, upon hearing the news, came rushing over with a great roar. “Old Gu!”
Ye Fan was also startled, emerged from his closed retreat, and entered the Divine Ruins to meet this elder whose fearsome name had once shaken all under heaven.
“Old Gu — tell me, did the Great Emperor truly pass into nirvana? Or did he charge his way into the immortal realm?” The Black Emperor asked urgently, both massive paws grabbing hold of Gu Tianshu’s collar.
“Like you, I was sealed by the Great Emperor within a source and fell into slumber — how could I know?” Gu Tianshu sighed.
“How can this be so?” The Black Emperor was devastated.
“The Great Emperor chose the Purple Mountain — it seems he was waiting for someone. That person would be the Undying Heavenly Emperor. The Great Emperor has never once been defeated or miscalculated in his entire life. I believe… in the end he will not have been defeated. He must have waited for that person.”
“You are saying the Great Emperor and the Undying Heavenly Emperor are together?” the Black Emperor said.
“Yes — so long as the Undying Heavenly Emperor does not die, the Beginningless Great Emperor will not be extinguished,” Gu Tianshu speculated.
Ye Fan listened in silence. Having reached this level, the mysteries of the past held less obscurity for him — some things he could already guess.
Gu Tianshu stayed on. But his own life was also not long. He left behind several divine medicine king plants as gifts to the Heavenly Court — and ten years later, he dissolved into the Dao within the Divine Ruins.
Another grave marker appeared there, standing beside the Battle-Victorious Buddha’s tomb as a companion.
This was but a glimpse — and also a beginning. As the years continued to flow, births and deaths and the passing of old age would appear on a large scale. A generation of the Heavenly Court’s people was destined to depart this world forever.
Indeed — the Old Madman and the Man-Devil also did not have many more years left. In the end they too would walk this road.
At night, Ye Fan stood alone on a cliff of the Undying Mountain, gazing into the distant sky. He did not move the entire night. He was in deep thought — did he truly have to watch them depart one after another?
In this year, he was over two thousand three hundred years of age. On the road of cultivation he had walked for a very long time already — yet relative to his lifespan, there was still a very long road ahead.
“I do not wish for a world of silence, with only myself remaining.” Ye Fan murmured softly, facing the first light of the rising sun. He sat cross-legged and contemplated the path of eternal life.
Rustle, rustle!
He unrolled the Immortal Treasure Map and gazed at it with careful attention, as if seeking to look through this scroll and perceive the vast immortal realm beyond it. This map was for the most part an artifact from the Chaotic Ancient era, while the imprint on its reverse should have been added by someone of a later age.
Two years later, news arrived from the Northern Dipper. An immortal bell’s sound was heard — a sound so profound it awakened the deaf and illuminated the mind. Yet it could not be obtained. This bell dissolved into the void and entered an unknown expanse of primordial chaos — it rang and then vanished.
Thereafter, Ye Fan came to the Northern Dipper and went deep underground, wishing to find the Desolate Pagoda. This pagoda was also like this — having long since developed a spiritual will. Even though he was a Great Emperor-level powerful fighter, without its recognition, he could not find it. The pagoda left no trace, having merged into another realm.
“Far more evasive and slippery than the Emperor Venerable’s cauldron!” Ye Fan could only feel this way with a sigh.
“Elder Brother, where else shall we go?” Xiao Nannan asked.
“The place we are going this time may be dangerous for Nannan. You wait outside for me.” Ye Fan said — though that place might also require Xiao Nannan.
“Nannan is not afraid,” the little girl said with endearing simplicity.
Ye Fan shook his head firmly. Then, using his divine sense, he tore through the cosmos and summoned Xiao Song, instructing him to accompany Xiao Nannan and telling him firmly that he must protect her well, waiting outside the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone.
He himself set foot forward, walking toward the Northern Dipper’s sole remaining Life Forbidden Zone.