Outside the Celestial Court, three magnificent divine temples, constructed from divine spring, blazed with radiance across the nine heavens, while the power of faith rumbled forth like a flowing river.

“You shouldn’t have done this. Dying in battle, with my bones buried amid the flash of blades, falling in the darkness and chaos — that was the best end I could have hoped for.” A voice drifted over; it came from Gai Jiuyou’s temple.

Ye Fan faced it calmly. After a careful look, he let out a sigh — it was nothing more than a remnant will condensed from the power of faith, not a true living person at all.

“In the future, should your spiritual consciousness truly awaken, senior, I will respect your choice.” Ye Fan turned away.

The other two temples had vital energy swirling around them, their life force even stronger. Faint pulsations could be glimpsed from two ravaged bodies within. Ye Fan chose not to disturb these two, and continued to seal them within the divine spring.

The Celestial Emperor had been reborn — what an extraordinary shock this was. Twenty-six thousand years of unbroken existence, and to go on living like this, it was enough to make anyone tremble!

Throughout the universe, the divine might of the Celestial Court grew ever more towering. The power of faith came surging in wave after wave, pouring into Ye Fan’s cauldron and transforming into a vast ocean of stellar seas. The entire Celestial Court radiated magnificent splendor, with auspicious energy bursting outward across hundreds of millions of miles.

Viewed from afar, that celestial palace bathed in undying radiance, resembling a vast immortal realm, a land of eternal life.

The extraordinary phenomena of the Celestial Court sent tremors through the mortal world. Everyone found it beyond belief, their awe deepening. True dragons soared, divine phoenixes spread their wings — all of it manifested from the power of faith, spiraling above the Celestial Court, becoming divine entities.

“Incredible. The Celestial Emperor is too powerful. With him present, the Celestial Court has already become the mightiest legacy in all of history!”

White tigers roared, Black Tortoises carved open the seas, and Roc birds struck across the nine heavens — all divine beings shaped by the power of faith, guarding the Celestial Court. By this era, the foundations had grown so thick that many people trembled with awe.

“Could this be the true meaning of the Celestial Court — to forge immortality above the sea of the mortal world?”

The Myriad Beings’ Primal Qi Cauldron rose and fell, its interior teeming with boundless faith energy. Every living creature depicted on the cauldron’s walls materialized into form, creating all manner of wondrous phenomena outside the Celestial Court.

Even if Ye Fan were to enter nirvana, with this cauldron present, the Celestial Court would continue to flourish.

“Is the ultimate function of faith energy connected to longevity and forging an immortal land? Is this why the ancient emperors all sought to establish their Celestial Courts?” From that day forward, many people began to contemplate this deeply.

The Celestial Emperor’s Cauldron had evolved to its utmost limit — it needed only one final leap to become an immortal artifact.

In the mortal world, in the world of men, many revered the Celestial Court. As more and more people invoked the Celestial Emperor’s name, the power of faith naturally continued to surge and multiply.

Ye Fan’s body was radiant and luminous, his black hair thick and lustrous, his life force vigorous and brimming with vitality — restored to the peak condition of the human form. At a glance, he appeared no more than around twenty years old, so young it was difficult to believe.

A brand new beginning. Another cycle of life. He stood at the starting point of a new world’s initial trajectory — still the same world, yet the people of former years were nowhere to be found.

Thinking back to those days — entering the Big Dipper Star Region for the first time, cultivating through hardship, hunted by enemies, then coming to know a band of companions — they had all been in the full bloom of youth, bold and unbridled, charging forward without hesitation, fighting against the current toward the heavens, filled with drive and spirit.

Looking back now, those companions, those beloved faces — not one of them could be seen anymore.

How was he to spend this lifetime? As the Celestial Emperor, how was he to forge ahead through this life alongside a group of unfamiliar young faces? The vast world stretched endlessly before him, and that feeling could never be recaptured.

Yet the previous life had ultimately passed. Ye Fan had experienced far too much. After a long sigh cast toward the heavens, he set aside his loneliness, for his road was still long, and there were things yet to be done.

He needed to comprehend the path of eternal life. He needed to fulfill the vows of his former years. A vast and ancient battle map of longevity had already been unfurled, waiting for him to paint upon it the magnificent rivers, mountains, and verses.

In this life, that old feeling was gone entirely. Back then, he had struggled bitterly, walked countless times between life and death, and faced tribulation after tribulation with every passing year on the path of cultivation. Now, in this lifetime, a single session of seated meditation could pass a thousand years in an instant.

Ye Fan contemplated various paths to longevity, pressing forward ceaselessly, testing and verifying this road.

Same time. Different way of living.

After several retreats, eons had drifted by, and five thousand years had passed in the world — such was the solitary road of the Celestial Emperor. He stood tall in the nine heavens, gazing down at the vibrant youths in the mortal realm below: slightly green, full of hope, charging toward their own skies. Yet he could no longer blend in among them.

“The footprints of those who came before — those who follow continue the journey.”

The Celestial Emperor sighed. Eight thousand years had passed in the world. He remained young, and had grown even more powerful.

Emerging from seclusion, he looked down at the mortal world — a group of youths setting out on the path of cultivation, rising to fame across the ten directions, then growing old and returning to dust. This was one lifetime, and it was also the reenactment of Ye Fan’s own era.

Eras shifted. Certain things in the world kept replaying themselves, like a mirror reflecting radiance, casting its light into the eyes of the Celestial Emperor.

Strands of immortal light flickered in Ye Fan’s eyes. Like this, he sat cross-legged in the nine heavens, gazing down at the great mortal realm. Several more thousands of years passed in a single sitting, as though he had caught hold of some trace of eternal life and reincarnation.

By the time fifteen thousand years of this lifetime had passed, Ye Fan’s hair remained as black as ever. On this particular day, he sat cross-legged on the cliffs of the Undying Mountains when, in the distance, a flash of golden light swept past and slipped quietly into the Peach Garden, causing his expression to shift.

With a whoosh, a small golden monkey was restrained by a single thought and appeared before him — it was the one and only young child of the Sage Emperor’s lineage. Measured in units of ten thousand years, the child had once again broken free from the divine spring and snuck out.

“Whoa, Uncle Ye Fan, you still look so young — has it really only been a few years?” The little sacred ape looked only a few years old, scratching its head in a daze.

“You’re too mischievous. How have you run off again?” Ye Fan asked.

“I wasn’t going to steal peaches, and I wasn’t trying to sneak out to play.” The little monkey was being obvious while trying to hide it, a clear case of protesting too much. Its large eyes rolled and darted about. But after a moment, it suddenly broke into a wailing cry. “Uncle Ye Fan, I miss Father and Mother.”

Ye Fan picked it up and placed it on his shoulder, then took it on a tour through the great mortal realm — not for any other reason, simply to let it play to its heart’s content.

The Celestial Emperor’s outing on this occasion dropped jaws everywhere. Many people were stunned, privately marveling at how lucky that little monkey was — to actually be able to sit on the Celestial Emperor’s shoulder.

In this lifetime, having one little troublemaker pop out to cry and wipe tears on him made Ye Fan feel a warmth he had not felt in a long time, and so he thoroughly indulged the child.

Of course, in the end, Ye Fan sealed the little monkey away once more. It was the hope of the Celestial Court — its innate talent was rare across the ages, possessing every advantage of the two great sacred ape clans.

“Uncle Ye Fan, can I come find you to play again in a while?” Before being sealed back into the divine spring, the little monkey asked timidly, yet with a gaze full of hope.

Ye Fan rewarded it with a flick on the head, then sealed it away for a long stretch.

Time flowed like water. In this lifetime, Ye Fan witnessed several generations of heaven’s favored ones rise to prominence, achieve fame, and then grow old in the mortal world. He had already lived in the world for over twenty thousand years.

In the years that remained, he traveled across heaven and earth, surveying mountains and dragon veins, measuring the land for sites of miraculous fortune — as though searching for something.

“The Celestial Emperor senses his final years approaching and has begun seeking a burial site for himself.”

People sighed softly. Even the greatest of heroes has a day they reach the end of their road. Even as the Celestial Emperor, so long as Ye Fan did not sever himself with his own hand, did not transform into a restricted zone, did not seal himself away by special means, he would still grow old and die.

Yet in his lifetime, he had personally leveled the five great restricted zones — how could he ever imitate them?

It was easy for people to foresee that the Celestial Emperor — whose achievements had shaken past and present, whose battle strength could cut down immortals — would ultimately die, his end coming in this very lifetime, for the undying medicine held no further use for him.

Time hurried onward. Ye Fan lived in this lifetime all the way to twenty-six thousand years, utterly astounding the world. Combined across both lifetimes, he had existed in the world for over fifty thousand years!

“The Celestial Emperor is truly the supreme divine being!”

All under heaven cried out in reverence.

Ye Fan walked alone through the sea of stars. The people of the world believed he was searching for a burial site for the Celestial Emperor, but none knew what truly stirred within his heart. He was actually trying to track down that monster.

Ye Fan sighed. His adversary was exceedingly patient.

Now his vital energy was in decline — this lifetime was drawing to a close. His battle strength would suffer greatly, and his situation was genuinely dangerous.

That year, his vital energy was spent, his white hair spilled loose, his body gaunt and wasted. A hero in his twilight years, he had not long to live. He traveled alone through the cosmos in solitary wandering.

Those who saw him could not help but feel a deep grief. Even the Celestial Emperor had grown old, yet immortality remained beyond sight.

“Celestial Emperor!”

As Ye Fan passed through various regions, it was as though he were bidding farewell to this universe and to every race within it. Many people cried out to him in sorrow, unable to hold back.

To watch a supremely powerful being reach his end in such a way — many of the strong felt a heaviness in their hearts. The aging and passing of the Celestial Emperor would be the end of an era.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, an overwhelmingly powerful aura erupted. A giant foot descended from the heavens, stamping down toward Ye Fan, whose vital energy had run dry.

“What — who is that?! Who dares show such disrespect to the Celestial Emperor, attempting to stamp upon his head?!” The sages who had been following from behind, all the way along, to send the Celestial Emperor off — every one of them changed color, erupting in fury.

In the past, Ye Fan had pacified the dark turmoil and swept away the life restricted zones, leaving behind magnificent accomplishments. He was venerated by every race. Who could possibly humiliate him like this?

To stamp upon the head of the Celestial Emperor — this enraged the sages of every race beyond endurance!

At the same moment, a dense mass of golden fur, red fur, and black fur began to sprout all across Ye Fan’s body. The sight was extremely terrifying.

“It is the curse of the Sacred Physique’s final years — the twilight curse of the Celestial Emperor! He has been struck by the most dreadful curse!”

“Celestial Emperor!”

People cried out. Everyone trembled, their hearts seized with worry for him, their faces etched with reluctance and grief.

They could not help. The aura of whoever had appeared was absolutely unmatched in the world — if not for the Celestial Emperor standing there ahead, blocking the shockwaves, all of them would have died.

“Boom!”

With a thunderous blast, the Celestial Emperor — his entire body covered in fur — swung the Emperor Fist, a technique he could not recall having used for tens of thousands of years!

This strike made all of ancient and modern history tremble. This strike reversed the long river of time. This strike pierced through all thirty-three layers of heaven!

The Celestial Emperor had grown old, had not engaged in battle for many years, and his vital energy had long since withered — yet his fist remained indestructible. The enormous foot that had stamped down from the sky was blasted apart on the spot, and a downpour of blood rained from above.

Then, with a roar, flames ten thousand feet high erupted from Ye Fan’s body, burning away every last strand of fur and restoring his true form.

Even aged, the Celestial Emperor remained supremely overbearing, unrivaled in the world, and none could dare provoke him.

“Worthy of the Celestial Emperor indeed. Even with vital energy spent, to still possess such battle strength — truly admirable. Yet you will still die!”

A figure descended. His body was covered from head to toe in a dense coat of long fur.

Then another figure descended — incomparably pure and holy, as though shaped from divine spring itself, dazzling to behold.

“The monsters are two individuals?” Ye Fan stared at them.

“I am Source Ghost.”

“I am Source Deity.”

The two announced their names, and in an instant they stirred a distant memory in Ye Fan — his years in the Northern Region’s Divine City, when he had been stone gambling and prospecting, and had heard many legends, all of them about Source Ghost and Source Deity, beings that fed on the immortal treasures within stones.

“So you are the monsters. Even the two of you emperors are not enough to be worth a look!” Ye Fan declared. Though old, his dominance remained unparalleled. He stepped forward, intending to sweep the enemies away.

“You are wrong. The monster you have been waiting for is me — they are merely my kindred.” Yet another voice arrived. A supreme transcendent dark treasure wreathed in immortal light tore through the great cosmos and appeared before them.

From within that dark artifact stepped a being whose body was shrouded entirely in chaotic light — an aura that dominated all the world!

“And how could we be left out.” As the words fell, four individuals whose vital energies could astound ten thousand ages arrived together. In the distance, an ancient mine faintly emerged, resembling a black hole.

They had come from the Primordial Ancient Mine — the restricted zone Ye Fan had always sought to level.

With a resonant hum, the Numinous Treasure Celestial Venerable’s killing formation map materialized, enveloping the high heavens. It had been seized into the hands of these four individuals. Several ancient emperor artifacts took the place of four killing swords, forming what was the greatest killing formation in all of history.

“What an impressive display — all seven supreme beings appear in my final years.” Ye Fan regarded them with cold indifference.

“I want only a single drop of his heart’s blood and the living Celestial Emperor’s seal. Everything else — his flesh, his emperor’s bones — you may keep!” declared the being who had stepped out from the transcendent dark treasure, his body wrapped in chaotic light.

“So it has evolved into a true immortal artifact.” Ye Fan fixed his gaze on that dark artifact and could not help but sigh. Yet even in his final years, even trapped deep within an absolute killing formation, his divine might still suppressed the cosmos. His voice rang out across the nine heavens and ten lands: “I am the Celestial Emperor. It is my duty to suppress and slay all enemies in the world!”