Northern Dipper Star Domain. Eastern Wilderness.

Within the Ten-Thousand Dragons’ Nest, between the nine dragon caves, powerful ancient royal clans came and went — representatives from several ancestral grounds — all gazing from a distance at a vermilion ancient coffin that drifted within.

“Has this once-weak human race truly grown to such a degree? Not even the Holy Emperors of old surpassed this, I think.”

The vermilion great coffin had lain there for untold ages, submerged beneath fragments of divine source stone — and yet not one of the ancient beings dared carry it away.

“This is your Ten-Thousand Dragons’ Nest’s sacred ground. Are you simply going to let a human lie in state here unattended?” a purple-haired middle-aged man said.

“Oh? Does the Spirit Valley find this so unbearable to look upon?” A golden-haired man from the Ten-Thousand Dragons’ Nest turned and glanced back.

Who would dare touch it? Not one of them was willing to move the vermilion ancient coffin. Even those at the helm of their respective clans did not dare draw near — even their kings, were they to come, would have to tread carefully.

“In the primordial era, the human race was not weak either. The two great scriptures of the Supreme Yin and the Supreme Yang — they were absolutely created by Emperor-level figures, even if they may not have originated in this world.” Another clan’s representative spoke.

“Indeed. Do you remember that ancient being who cultivated both the Supreme Yin and Supreme Yang — the one called the Human Demon? He killed several ancestor kings single-handedly and dominated the world.”

“The human race of today is truly weak. In truth, we could call upon the kings of our respective clans and wipe them out in one stroke — erase them permanently from this world.”

“Don’t act rashly. Be careful lest you invite catastrophe. The ancient kings of our clans will decide what is to be done.” Another ancient being, bearing the likeness of a divine phoenix, spoke in a low, firm voice.

This was a gathering of chieftains, representatives of their clans, who had been meeting for several days. Now they made their way deep into the Ten-Thousand Dragons’ Nest, their gaze turning toward the dark nest.

In the primordial era, an ancient Emperor had left behind a divine platform. That platform had been divided into nine pieces — one of which resided within the ancient nest, where black radiance flickered and primal chaos drifted.

“This human Emperor was too overbearing — to have occupied a place of such importance…” One of the ancient beings was deeply displeased, yet could do nothing about it.

“Let us each retrieve our sacred objects, assemble the divine platform, and attempt a summoning toward the Ziwei Ancient Star Domain in the starry sky. Perhaps it will truly succeed.”

“The cost will be immense. Prepare accordingly.”

In the vast expanse of the starry sky, Ye Fan was on the move once more. He did not know his origin point, nor his destination — where he would end up was impossible to determine.

“Let’s hope I can enter the Ziwei Ancient Star Domain.”

He murmured it to himself, yet knew well that traveling through the cold universe was full of variables. No guarantees were possible — especially when the altar had been so small.

The green-robed elder had once again lost himself. Cradling the stone coffin with blank eyes, he drifted alongside Ye Fan, following without awareness.

This allowed Ye Fan to breathe a long sigh of relief. To travel side by side with the malevolent obsession of a divine being — standing right beside it — was an almost unbearable pressure.

“The corpse of a divine being — or the remains of an ancient Emperor!”

Ye Fan fixed his gaze upon the stone coffin, his eyes burning with intensity. This was an object of priceless value — something that could not be found by searching across all the worlds of heaven and earth.

Did true divine beings really exist? He genuinely wanted to look inside, but he did not attempt to seize it. Heaven only knew whether the nearly Dao-dissolved green-robed elder might suddenly regain awareness.

The stone coffin was perfectly sealed, with not the faintest whisper of energy leaking from it. Ye Fan had once carefully extended a thread of divine consciousness to probe it, but could not penetrate the seal. He had not pressed the matter, however. He still clearly remembered the ancient coffins of the Ruthless Man and the Undying Heavenly Emperor — approach them too closely, and one’s body and soul would be obliterated!

This was a journey of profound strangeness. After crossing through the star domain, he could see boundless starlight shimmering all around. They were traveling at tremendous speed through an eternal corridor.

A single breath — a hundred years. Ten thousand years — the blink of an eye.

Two entirely opposite sensations — one moment time felt as slow as still water, the next it rushed past in a torrent. It gave him a feeling of shifting ages and fractured space, as though nothing around him was real.

He did not know how long had passed before his body shook violently. Ahead, a dim expanse of starlight filled his vision. The corridor vanished, and they emerged into a dead and silent region of the cosmos.

“Why do I always end up in situations like this — the Black Emperor’s unreliable array inscriptions, the incomplete altar of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land, and now an altar constructed by a lost divine obsession…”

Ye Fan was on the verge of tears. He was back in the frozen expanse of the cosmos, with nothing before him or behind — billions of miles from the nearest ancient star, in every direction.

Now he was even further from the Northern Dipper Star Domain, and the Ziwei Star was nothing more than a hazy impossibility on the horizon. He had arrived in an utterly lifeless resting ground — a place of absolute desolation.

To expect that he could fly his way back? Not in ten lifetimes. He could only drift aimlessly through the cosmos until his energy was spent, his life force exhausted, and he died somewhere along the way.

“No — this region is far too dark and cold. There’s a powerful pulling force, swallowing everything!”

Ye Fan was suddenly alarmed. He felt the threat of death drawing close — like facing the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art, as though he were about to be refined into cinders and absorbed.

“What is that?” His body moved against his will, dragged toward a certain direction. The green-robed elder and the stone coffin were pulled the same way.

Directly ahead, there was not a single point of starlight. Not a trace of illumination. Nothing visible at all — darkness like ink, so absolute one could not see one’s hand before one’s face.

Soundless, breathless — swallowing heaven and earth. It was as though some primordial beast, ancient as the cosmos itself, had simply opened its maw and devoured an entire star domain, leaving nothing behind.

The force grew stronger, the acceleration increasing by the moment. Ye Fan’s body felt as though it were being torn apart. Holy blood boiled within him. His entire being seemed to burn — even as an icy cold drove deep into his bones.

“What’s happening? Why am I losing control — like ten thousand rivers flooding into the sea, like a moth hurling itself into flame?!”

Though Ye Fan possessed a Sacred Body, it was not yet fully realized. If he were drawn inside, he would certainly be reduced to ash. He had entered a region where he could no longer perceive the flow of time.

Eternal darkness. Boundless land of death.

In the end, even the waves of divine power he emitted were swallowed. Even his murmured words dissolved into silence — the moment he moved, his life essence was consumed.

“This is…”

Ye Fan’s heart convulsed. This was a terrifying dead zone of the cosmos. Any living being that entered it would be devoured and dissolved. It was like facing the fearsome Ruthless Great Emperor himself.

He was accelerating inward, on the verge of being swallowed into eternal stillness. His physical body felt as though it were coming apart, assaulted by a dreadful force that dragged him at tremendous speed toward the depths.

The green-robed elder, deprived of his primary divine will, had a vacant, lost expression. His very form was nearly dissolving — he showed not the slightest reaction, simply clutching the stone coffin with blank, unseeing eyes.

“The universe is boundless. Dead zones abound, stretching into eternity — and yet there is scarcely a single wellspring of life to be found…”

Ye Fan sighed softly. Since departing the Northern Dipper Star Domain, he had been traveling alone for years. All he had seen was darkness and cold — not a single sound, a solitude vast as all eternity.

He now understood clearly that he had entered a place of no return. Even a sage of the ancient past might not necessarily be able to save him.

This was a cosmic black hole — capable of annihilating eternity, dismantling and consuming everything that entered its vicinity. Only a true Saint could possibly escape. Otherwise, there was no way out.

Ye Fan had a strong suspicion that the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art, the first ancient scripture created by the Ruthless Great Emperor, had been inspired by exactly this.

Now he was essentially facing one overpowering strike — the full effort of a Saint-level being directed against him. How could he escape? If he truly fell into the black hole’s center, it would be equivalent to a Great Emperor striking him directly. Death would be certain — not even a god could save him.

“What can I do?”

Ye Fan was truly out of options. He reviewed his most powerful abilities. His physical body was unparalleled — but it was not yet perfected. Entering the black hole would still reduce him to ash.

The Divine Striking Whip was formidable, but it could not drive a black hole to collapse — there was no divine consciousness to strike at. The Myriad Primordial Qi Cauldron was extraordinary, but it could not possibly contain a black hole.

The most destructive ability he possessed was undoubtedly the black gourd. Beyond its flames, it could unleash a world-shaking strike. But even if the immortal sword within the gourd were released — as sharp as it was — could it cut a black hole apart?

“If only the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin were here — perhaps the small bronze coffin could release its ultimate Dao power and hold the black hole at bay.” Ye Fan murmured.

His gaze fell upon the stone coffin in the arms of the divine obsession. Perhaps this was his only hope. Whether the contents were a divine being or Emperor remains — even in death, they might be able to resist a black hole.

The speed of their descent was accelerating. They were being hurled toward the black hole at increasing velocity. Ye Fan could endure no more. He used the cauldron to shield himself, and clung to the black gourd as well.

At last, they plunged into permanent darkness. Even his Source Heaven Divine Eye was rendered useless — when he opened it, the divine radiance was absorbed, and his very eyeballs nearly flew out.

Dong!

The divine obsession seemed to stir. At the very instant it was about to dissolve into the void, it trembled with tremendous force — and the stone coffin in its grasp cracked open by a hairline.

Boom!

In that instant, an overwhelming torrent of energy erupted from the stone coffin. The black hole itself was terrifying — but the presence within the coffin was more terrifying still.

It was as though the entire universe were being unmade — the region surrounding the black hole collapsed outright, everything in all directions annihilated and destroyed. Nothing could withstand it. Not even the black hole itself could swallow this force.

Ye Fan’s heart hammered. Just as he had suspected — this was either a divine being or Emperor remains. There was no other possibility. The power was simply incomprehensible.

He wrapped himself in the immortal treasure from the Chaos Ten-Thousand Dragons Nest, drew himself into the Myriad Primordial Qi Cauldron, and used the black gourd to shield his body — and barely managed not to be torn apart.

Dong!

The stone coffin was supremely formidable. It pierced clean through the outer boundary of the black hole and broke free. Nothing could stop it.

And this was merely a corpse. If the being had been alive — how powerful would it have been? Ye Fan could not begin to imagine. He already considered himself strong — but he could not begin to fathom a being like this.

They had broken free from the black hole and entered a region that was desolate and bone-achingly cold — a Desolate place so frigid it seemed capable of shattering one’s very soul.

“Supreme Yin Sacred Force!”

Ye Fan was startled. He felt this terrifying power immediately upon departing the black hole. Here, in the cosmos, he had encountered this most primordial of forces.

Hum!

A crescent-moon-shaped pendant on his body began to tremble, emanating a Supreme Yin true force that sealed the ten directions — and almost ground Ye Fan into nothing.

He immediately opened the black gourd, called forth the nine-colored mist threads, and wrapped himself within them, meeting the force with sacred flames.

“This is… the Supreme Yin Ancient Scripture!”

Suddenly, a thought stirred in Ye Fan’s heart. Drawing upon the primordial Supreme Yin Sacred Force emanating from the cosmos, he caught a glimpse of two ancient divine characters flickering on the pendant — Supreme Yin.

He sat cross-legged in this most yin, most dark region of the cosmos and went completely still — as though placed in the age of primordial creation.

“Supreme Yin, Supreme Yang — which is weaker, which is stronger? Yin and Yang in harmony…” An ancient celestial sound, like a divine incantation, resonated at his ears, ringing out through the lightless cosmos.

Northern Dipper Star Domain. Eastern Wilderness. An ancestral ground of an ancient race.

A group of powerful beings gathered around a divine platform in solemn devotion.

“We have detected a trace of energy — a sign of life in the boundless cosmos. No — not just that. It is a powerful Supreme Yin Sacred Force!”

“Do we summon it back?”

“Such an existence, if provoked, could bring disaster upon us all.”

“It matters little — the ancient kings of each clan are standing by!”

In the Central Region, Pang Bo returned from a battlefield covered in wounds, walking with great difficulty. He spat out a mouthful of blood and let out a long, heavy sigh: “Nearly four years now, Ye Fan — have you made it back to your homeland? Do you know who I’m fighting? When will we meet again…”

“Brother Pang, are your injuries alright?” The Barbarian was also covered in wounds from head to toe, carrying on his back the critically injured and barely conscious Li Heishui as he walked over, sighing: “The Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art is too terrifying. That woman deserves to die!”

“And there’s an even more terrifying group. The world has fallen into chaos. If not for that dog, we’d all be dead.” Wu Zhongtian had lost an arm, trailing blood all along the path.

“Is that dog still alive?” Pang Bo asked with a sigh.