The Dragon Transformation Pool shimmered with crystalline brilliance, its waters milky white and fragrant. The withered body within lay completely motionless — all signs of life seemingly extinguished.

Since ancient times, beautiful women have lamented the passing of youth; heroes are not permitted to live long enough to see their hair turn white.

Jiang Taixu — fate had been unkind to him. A hero at the end of his road, his once-mighty bearing that had looked down upon all under heaven was gone, replaced by nothing but boundless desolation.

Ye Fan owed him an immense debt of gratitude, for it was through him that he had learned the Battle Character Secret among the Nine Secrets. Now, seeing the man’s true form in person, his heart was greatly shaken. The Divine King had already burned through the last of his oil, yet in years past he had transmitted his arts through a stone wall. What kind of extraordinary willpower must it have taken to accomplish that?

It had all been for the sake of passing down the Nine Secrets, so that they would not be lost to the world. Once Ye Fan understood this, he felt a surge of genuine reverence for the old Divine King rise within him.

His body had nearly withered to nothing, his divine sense on the verge of fading away — yet who could have done what he did? Everything Jiang Taixu had accomplished could only be called a miracle — he had literally imprinted himself into a stone wall and transmitted a supreme secret art through it.

“The Divine King’s condition…” Ye Fan furrowed his brow. Even with the Sacred Spring and life-saving divine medicines at hand, the situation hardly looked optimistic.

“These past few days, we have been using spiritual medicines to help regulate his body, but there has been almost no effect,” said Jiang Yun, his brow creased with worry.

They had already reserved divine medicine seeds, yet they feared the potency would be too overwhelming for the old Divine King’s weakened body to bear, leaving them caught in a dilemma.

Moreover, Jiang Yun had received word that the owner of the divine medicine seeds was an Ancient Holy Body — someone who had shaken all of Divine City before being hunted down and disappearing without a trace. Whether the auction could continue had become an open question.

“Use the Sacred Spring,” Ye Fan said. No one understood the wondrous effects of the Sacred Spring better than he did.

Long ago, in the Ancient Forbidden Lands, his lifespan had been completely exhausted — he, too, had nearly withered to death. It was only after he had desperately plunged himself into the Sacred Spring pool and soaked within it for the better part of a day that he had slowly revived and his vitality had been restored.

“This spring water…” Jiang Yun’s heart was far from calm.

The Eastern Wastelands had seven forbidden zones of life. Only at the deepest heart of such places could a Sacred Spring possibly exist — and extracting water from them was nearly impossible, given how ferociously dangerous the Undying Mountain and its like were.

“This is a great kindness!” Jiang Yun cupped his hands toward Ye Fan with sincere solemnity. Who else could selflessly give Sacred Spring water to another? This was a priceless life-saving liquid, the kind one would hoard to protect one’s own life.

“There is no need for such formality, Senior. Please hurry and save the Divine King,” Ye Fan replied.

From the depths of the underground palace, nine silent figures appeared — each of them ancient and decrepit, their hair white as snow, their true ages impossible to determine.

The nine elders examined the Sacred Spring water and all nodded with expressions of joy. Then they gathered around the Dragon Transformation Pool and sat down in quiet meditation.

The jade gourd was suspended above the Dragon Transformation Pool, and crystalline droplets trickled down from it. The nine elders simultaneously released beams of innate divine light from the crowns of their heads, fusing that light into the liquid and refining it into innate vital essence, which then seeped into the withered body of the old Divine King.

The Sacred Spring water was so scarce — at most, it amounted to half a bowl — and they could not afford to waste a single drop of its essence. The nine elders joined their efforts, refining only one drop at a time, infusing it little by little into Jiang Taixu’s body.

Ye Fan watched this and could not help but feel a flush of embarrassment. In the past, he had been so terribly wasteful — drinking the Sacred Spring water as though it were ordinary water, gulping it down in great mouthfuls. Never had he been this careful and precise.

That half-bowl of Sacred Spring water took until late into the night to be fully refined and had still not been exhausted — the process continued slowly. The nine elders had all gone pale, swaying as if they might collapse.

They truly were giving everything they had. They were drawing upon their own innate life essence and fusing it into the Sacred Spring in order to prolong the old Divine King’s life. After all, the spring water was ultimately not a divine medicine — it was sufficient to regulate and nurture the body, but it was not a true sacred object capable of reversing a person’s fate.

Clang!

A great bell rang out — its peal long and unending, reverberating through heaven and earth. Even the vast underground palace trembled from it. The faces of those beside the Dragon Transformation Pool changed.

“A supreme expert has come to attack!”

“Who is this person? The Eternal Universe Divine Furnace suppresses the Dragon Transformation Pool, yet they still dare come to kill the Divine King — just what kind of terrifying figure is this?”

Even the powerful Jiang Yun’s expression changed. If the enemy dared come, it was because they had a way out — they were confident they could escape unscathed.

Ye Fan’s heart clenched as well. This world truly bred ruthless figures endlessly — unwilling to let Jiang Taixu return to life, even with a supreme-grade weapon standing guard, they still dared to force their way in.

“Invoke the Eternal Universe Divine Furnace!” Jiang Yun issued the command.

He himself stood unmoving before the Dragon Transformation Pool, not willing to retreat a single step — it was obvious that a peerless expert had been specifically entrusted with controlling the divine furnace.

Hum!

The void roared, as if a torn cloth were being violently shaken. Even the underground palace was rocked by the impact, as though a great earthquake had struck — yet the Dragon Transformation Pool itself remained relatively calm.

In that moment, all the people of Divine City were shocked. From afar, they could see crimson mist shooting into the sky while the cry of a phoenix shook the heavens, as though a divine phoenix were being reborn from flame and soaring between the nine heavens and ten lands.

An inconceivable pressure instantaneously blanketed the entire city. No one could resist it — many people collapsed to the ground almost simultaneously, as if their legs had simply given out beneath them.

Countless cultivators felt their souls tremble. They could not help but prostrate themselves in worship — entirely involuntarily, as if they were standing before a deity, filled with an instinctive and overwhelming reverence.

The divine might of a supreme-grade weapon!

Everyone was stunned into speechlessness, their mouths hanging open, unable to utter a single word. The lips of many elder figures were trembling.

The Solar Divine Furnace, cast from phoenix blood and red-gold, became the singular existence between heaven and earth. No one could see its true form, yet its pressure seeped into every person’s bones — something they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

What human power could possibly resist such divine might? Flesh and blood bodies simply could not endure it. No one could withstand it!

This offered but a glimpse of the supreme bearing of the Great Emperors of antiquity — and this was merely their weapon, not even a fraction of what the Emperors themselves had represented.

Deep within the underground palace, beside the Dragon Transformation Pool, Ye Fan too was stunned. And yet he was not suppressed — this place was quite calm — but his heart still pounded wildly.

“So this is the divine might of a supreme-grade weapon…” he murmured to himself.

“This is not the divine might of the supreme-grade weapon. The furnace has merely been roused from dormancy — it has not yet unleashed any actual force,” said Jiang Yun.

“The terrifying power of the Eternal Universe Divine Furnace has not even been revealed yet?” Ye Fan was truly shaken. He could no longer fathom just how formidable a supreme-grade weapon truly was.

He had heard people say it could shatter heaven and earth, boil entire oceans dry — and he had assumed those were exaggerations. Now he saw that such claims were not overblown at all. It truly possessed boundless and supreme power, beyond all reckoning.

“A supreme sacred weapon in the hands of an ordinary person is nothing but a dead object. Only a powerful expert can rouse it to wakefulness, and to unleash its divine might requires an even vaster divine power,” said Jiang Yun.

“Then…” Ye Fan stood there in a daze. A Saint-level figure wielding such a weapon could indeed roam freely through all under heaven — truly fearless before anyone.

“All who dared to attack have been destroyed, ground to dust. But they were not living people — they were four ancient corpses,” came a report from someone beside the Dragon Transformation Pool.

“Were those ancient corpses remarkable in any way?” Jiang Yun asked.

“By conservative estimate, they were all powerful figures from high antiquity who have long since perished. There is a terrifying individual manipulating them.”

Every person beside the Dragon Transformation Pool drew a sharp breath. The corpses of ancient powerhouses were not easy to come by, and yet the attacker possessed four of them. Without question, whoever was behind this was a fearsome force of extraordinary origin.

Jiang Yun sensed the gravity of the situation. “They did not hesitate to destroy four such powerful avatars — this was nothing but a probe. This is a terrifying and formidable enemy!”

Someone nearby voiced a suspicion: “Could they possibly be confident enough to breach a supreme-grade weapon? That would require a Great Emperor to return to life!”

Jiang Yun’s expression grew heavy. He commanded sharply, “Order all personnel to full alert — especially those near the Solar Divine Furnace. Aside from myself, anyone who dares approach — regardless of who they are — is to be destroyed by the divine might of the supreme-grade weapon!”

“But if it’s…” someone began timidly.

“I have already said it — regardless of who they are, if they dare approach, kill without mercy!” Jiang Yun’s expression was ice cold, grave and utterly resolute.

In the latter half of the night, the great bell rang out again, its peal resounding through all of Divine City and jolting everyone from their sleep. The underground palace erupted into chaos.

Another attacker had come — a pair of humanoid weapons cultivated from the attacker’s own blood essence, their power interwoven with the force of natural laws. The Eternal Universe Divine Furnace reduced them to ash.

“These are not the same group, but they are equally terrifying. Someone willing to unleash weapons like these is at minimum a Saint-level powerhouse.”

Tension gripped the underground palace. With the storm gathering and dark clouds filling the sky, everyone felt the weight of the situation. Probing attacks came continuously — and one could be nearly certain that sooner or later, a thunderous and decisive strike would fall.

“What are they relying on? How do they intend to contend with the Solar Divine Furnace — to stand against a Great Emperor’s sacred weapon?” The members of the Jiang Family could not understand.

“I fear trouble has truly come…” Jiang Yun’s expression filled with worry. “Someone may very well be bringing their own supreme-grade weapon to challenge our Jiang Family’s Sacred Furnace.”

“What?! How can that be?! Who are these people — do they actually intend to start a great war between sacred grounds?” Every elder beside the Dragon Transformation Pool was shaken to the core.

Ye Fan too was dumbstruck. The situation had escalated to this point — a clash of supreme-grade weapons was about to occur. This was world-shattering news, enough to shake all of existence.

“A war between sacred grounds — how many tens of thousands of years has it been since such an event last occurred? Do they truly intend to flood the great earth with blood?”

“Our Jiang Family has a Divine King returning to life — is that truly reason enough for such a massive upheaval? Are they not afraid of dragging the great earth back into its darkest age?!”

The elders of the Jiang Family were all shaken, every face bearing an expression of incomparable gravity.

“First, it is for the Nine Secrets. Second, someone may be deliberately trying to ignite a great war between sacred grounds,” said Jiang Yun, his brow furrowed.

Those who had made their move were not necessarily the supreme powerhouses of the Eastern Wastelands alone — it was very likely that peerless figures from other regions had arrived as well. This was Jiang Yun’s true concern.

That night was one of unbearable tension. The enemy’s strength had exceeded all expectations. If someone arrived wielding a Great Emperor’s sacred weapon and a battle broke out, even Divine City itself would cease to exist.

Just as dawn was about to break, a sensation of extreme and terrifying pressure surged from deep within the underground palace. The faces of the Jiang Family members all changed — they knew this feeling all too well. A Great Emperor’s sacred weapon was awakening!

“Quickly — invoke the Eternal Universe Divine Furnace!” Jiang Yun bellowed.

“Have they gone mad?! They truly dare to wield a supreme-grade weapon against us?! Who in the world are these people — do they not know the horrific consequences of such an action?!” The elders of the Jiang Family were all stricken with alarm.

Hum!

The void shuddered. Heaven and earth were pierced through — a vast and surging pressure came crashing in, pouring into the depths of the underground palace.

The Eternal Universe Divine Furnace, cast from phoenix blood and red-gold, blazed with radiance and likewise began to awaken. A divine phoenix shot up toward the heavens — its phoenix cry shaking all nine tiers of the sky, reverberating through the clouds.

“Which supreme-grade weapon is that?!” The Jiang Family members were all alarmed.

Above the underground palace, the sacred weapon was rapidly awakening. The divine might it unleashed — vast as an ocean — surged forth, causing even the Dragon Transformation Pool to tremble, its milky-white waters splashing high.

“Protect the Divine King Patriarch!”

“This is madness — they are willing to start a war between sacred grounds! Do they want to return to the age of darkness?! Our Jiang Family does not fear them!”

Many voices shouted out. They had resolved to fight to the last — no matter how formidable the attacking enemy, they would not retreat.