Outside the domain, Ye Fan faced an overwhelming catastrophe — a crisis of life and death, where his very path of Dao might be extinguished!

No one could possibly kill nine young Emperors. Such a person had never existed throughout all of history, for they represented the absolute pinnacle of power.

“If I can eliminate even one, this battle against the Dao will not have been in vain!”

Ye Fan moved both hands simultaneously, slowly tracing his Taichi Dao markings, manifesting a golden divine circle that appeared naturally as if born from heaven itself, enveloping him completely — this was his divine form!

With Dao or without Dao, with method or without method — all of it existed within a single thought!

He cast aside his scattered thoughts, allowing his heart to settle into stillness. Transcending his current state of mind, he manifested his own Dao traces. All manner of peace washed over him; ten thousand thoughts returned to the spirit; free from worry, free from sorrow — his entire being transformed into the Dao.

“Boom!”

The nine young Emperors would not grant him time. They struck without mercy, their sole purpose being to destroy Ye Fan. Together they unleashed their Emperor’s Fist.

Yet this time, Ye Fan did not face them directly. He suddenly reversed course and surged upward, striking toward the very source of the heavenly tribulation, attacking deep into the ancient sky — directly breaking through the tribulation itself.

“Hum!”

The ethereal forms of the nine human-tribe Emperors all shuddered. They were nine lightning-shaped human figures descending from the center of the thunder sea, and all of them were shaken by the impact, their assault momentarily slowing.

It was impossible for Ye Fan to use this to restrain them — he could only keep moving. He stretched his body, transforming into a curved dragon-shaped Dao marking, bringing his Taichi divine circle to perfection.

Simultaneously, crackling sounds erupted from within his body. Ancient scriptures poured forth from all five great secret realms — the Wheel Sea, the Dao Palace, the Four Poles, the Dragon Transformation, and the Immortal Terrace — vast and boundless. His entire body and the golden circle became densely covered with symbols, all of them Dao markings, radiating world-shaking divine light.

“Break free — give birth to a Dao Self, a true self!” he cried out within his heart. The many ancient scriptures merged into one, seeking to connect all five secret realms into a unified whole, forging his own sacred Dao!

Beneath the sky, within the thunder sea, scripture after scripture spread densely, symbols and Dao markings interweaving. Ye Fan was sealed at the center, radiating boundless light while the golden circle rose and fell, dazzlingly brilliant.

Above his head, a cauldron hovered in the air, equally interwoven with various patterns, fused with him as one — as though it were an inseparable part of his very life.

And at this very moment, he, the thunder and lightning divine sea, and all nine Emperors were all ascending together, drawing closer to those nine mysterious great stars suspended across the heavens.

“Give birth to the Dao Self!”

Ye Fan roared. Within his body, he had cultivated the profound meanings of several ancient scriptures, which he had contemplated for many years without ceasing, striving to unify them — using his own being as the dragon spine to thread them together. Yet he had never succeeded.

Today, forced to this desperate juncture, he burned every last bridge. Willing to fight to his death at the very edge of annihilation, he forcibly threaded all the scriptures he had cultivated over many years together, smelting them within the furnace of his body.

“Ahh—!”

Ye Fan cried out. The might of nine Emperors was beyond bearing. Their combined palm strike came crashing down, and even someone as powerful as him could not withstand it — nor could even Wushi, the Fierce Emperor, or Fuxi.

“Pff!”

The golden circle shattered. All the runes upon it were erased, rapidly dimming. His true body exploded once more. Yet at precisely this moment, a brilliant light burst forth from the crown of his skull.

A second Ye Fan leapt into the sky — indistinguishable from himself. This was the Dao Self, forcibly breaking free from its shell: black hair cascading loose, eyes flashing with cold lightning, fusing several ancient scriptures into one furnace, strengthening its own being.

The force of this leap was unstoppable. Cradling the cauldron, it surged upward, breaking free from the encirclement of the nine Emperors, rushing in reverse toward the nine mysterious great stars.

The Dao Self Ye Fan sensed something deeply strange about these nine stars. How could they have appeared here out of nowhere? It defied the laws of celestial movement — as though nine suns had suddenly stretched themselves across the heavens.

He sent a fist crashing forward. The power of this strike originated from his entire being: the Wheel Sea boiling, the five organs illuminated, the four limbs blazing, then surging through the dragon spine of his vertebrae toward the Immortal Terrace — nine revolutions in a single thought, multiple scriptures uniting into one, all at his command.

The moment his fist was thrown, the star domain lost its luster. One of the great stars above bore the brunt, immediately trembling, emanating an Emperor’s might that spread across the entire sky.

“Just as I suspected there was something wrong!”

Ye Fan understood. These were the origins of the Dao markings produced by the nine Emperors. Rather than killing the nine Emperors, it was better to directly shatter the great stars — for this was the root.

“Boom!”

The Dao Self Ye Fan struck with pent-up fury. The power was naturally earth-shaking, dimming both sun and moon and all stars, leaving nothing in this vast outer domain but himself.

“Cauldron Strike!”

The cauldron above his head surged forward, striking the great star alongside his fist — this was an act of utter destruction. The mysterious star flickered, and a bolt of lightning in human form flew toward him, seeking to obstruct the destruction. Yet it was one step too late.

“Bang!”

The great star cracked apart, dissolving into a terrifying rain of light that riddled the Dao Self Ye Fan with countless wounds, nearly obliterating him entirely. Yet the human-shaped lightning bolt that had rushed toward him also dimmed and faded.

The so-called Nine Stars in Alignment was the source from which nine varieties of Dao markings were born. They functioned like nine gateways, capable of channeling the various divine arts of the nine young Emperors.

By destroying one gateway, Ye Fan naturally caused one young Emperor to vanish — unable to remain within this thunder sea space.

Moreover, at this moment, the remaining eight great stars fell into disarray. For they were connected in a single line, each mutually constraining the others. Now that one was lost, their trajectories became unstable.

The other eight human-shaped lightning forms swayed along with their eight great stars and did not press forward with further attacks. They merely isolated Ye Fan from the outside, preventing him from drawing any closer.

“Heaven’s Dao has its flaws!”

Ye Fan murmured to himself. Nothing under heaven is perfect — all things have their weaknesses. By destroying the anomalous manifestations of the Dao severance, he could dissolve the pressure brought by the nine young Emperors.

Yet the moment this thought arose, before his mind had even fully settled — in the void, another resplendent great star materialized from nothing, even more blazing than before!

Nine stars complete, connected in a single line — once again forming a wondrous spectacle, stretched across this star domain, enough to make astronomers tear out their hair in bafflement.

A woman of unparalleled grace and bearing appeared, stepping forth in a single stride as though an ancient goddess descending upon the world. Her divine might was vast and surging, causing the entire canopy of stars to tremble for her.

Ye Fan could not perceive her true face — it was obscured by the aura of the great Dao — he could only see her incomparable divine form standing proudly in this mortal world, radiating a quality of supreme peerlessness.

She was a woman, yet she looked down upon all under heaven. Her pair of eyes gazed out as though the Emperors were beneath her notice — sovereign above all, transcendent beyond this world.

In that moment, a cold shiver ran through Ye Fan. The Fierce Emperor had also arrived. She truly was a woman, and above her head hung the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar!

The Fierce Emperor had spent her life contending with heaven itself. Her brilliance had astonished ten thousand ages. She could slay gods beyond the nine heavens — yet she did not pursue immortality. She sought only to wait within the mortal world for you to return.

Ye Fan’s head ached. Having seen off one Emperor, he had now summoned the fiercest of them all. Even his hairs stood on end. His karmic entanglement with the Fierce Emperor ran extremely deep — even the cauldron above his head originally belonged to her. Facing her like this now was truly an ill omen.

The Fierce Emperor’s bearing was unparalleled. She stepped forward in a single stride. Though she was only a human-shaped lightning bolt — a mere Dao marking — she seemed somehow unlike the others.

“Could it really be that nine young Emperors must all be killed? Merely destroying the nine ancient stars is useless — it only summons fiercer ones!” Ye Fan muttered to himself.

“Boom!”

At precisely this moment, the Fierce Emperor — who could look down upon all the heavens — descended. Something very strange occurred. She fell carrying ten thousand zhang of immortal light, and where she landed, she overlapped with one of the unknown young Emperors and dissolved him completely.

“She killed one — she struck down a young Emperor?!”

Ye Fan was stunned. These human-shaped lightning forms were far too bizarre. What was happening with the Fierce Emperor? How could something like this occur? Truly the most astonishing of all Emperors — she had actually slain one of them!

“Does she intend to help me?” he wondered, his heart stirring.

“Boom!”

The Fierce Emperor attacked him. A single finger pointed forward — the Flight of Immortals technique illuminating past and present, immediately cleaving through this expanse of the universe without the slightest mercy, seeking to reduce him to dust.

Ye Fan remained calm at heart and counterattacked swiftly. She was only a Dao marking — how could she possibly help him? She had no consciousness whatsoever. He had no choice but to resist.

“Trouble!”

A jolt ran through the Dao Self Ye Fan’s heart. He had just forcibly unified several ancient scriptures, fusing them into a single furnace — and now a great problem had arisen: the Dao Self was on the verge of collapse.

At the same moment, the Fierce Emperor’s attack arrived. He hastily brought the cauldron up before him as a shield — yet at this very moment, Wushi also made his move, striking toward him.

“All of them are absolute monsters!”

The Dao Self Ye Fan was speechless. To be simultaneously attacked by these two heaven-defying existences was truly a singular experience. And when he saw that the Emperor Fuxi had also moved against him, he very wisely made his choice.

He let the Dao Self dissolve without resistance. His Primordial Spirit cradled the cauldron and burst free. The golden small figure cut through the resistance of time as though reversing the flow of ages, breaking out of the encirclement and merging back into the distant fragments of his true self — shattered bone and blood — rapidly reassembling.

“Hiss”… “Hiss”…

Two of the human-shaped lightning forms inexplicably vanished. No one had dealt them any damage — they had withdrawn on their own. The corresponding great stars also dimmed and faded.

“Could it be that the young Emperor from just now was not slain by the Fierce Emperor at all, but simply ran out of time?” Ye Fan’s eyes shone with piercing clarity. He had glimpsed hope!

“Yes — it must be so. All are Emperors, all are the supreme figures of their age. No one could possibly kill another with a single strike!” he told himself.

He saw the hope of his Dao severance succeeding. Human power has its limits, and so too does heaven. The great Dao has its flaws. By enduring battle against so many opponents and holding on until the very end — that itself would shake all ages past and present, and allow him to sever the great Dao in reverse.

“Fight until heaven has no more tribulation left to send down!”

“Boom!”

Even as Ye Fan’s hopes swelled, three great stars suddenly blazed brilliantly, appearing in the sky. Nine stars were gathered once more.

A monk dressed in Buddhist robes walked forth — and Ye Fan was immediately stunned. What other monk could have attained Dao? It could only be Amitabha Buddha without question.

On the other side, a person holding an incomparably sharp dragon sword stepped forward, killing intent filling ten thousand ages — so thick it could not be dissolved. That was the Primordial Emperor Sword. No further words were needed to identify who had arrived.

The third person’s entire body radiated light more blazing than even the sun. Every inch of his flesh was wreathed in scarlet solar fire, impossible to look upon directly. Seeing this appearance, Ye Fan dimly guessed — this was the Solar Saint Emperor!

He had just sent several away, yet several more had arrived. Had all these figures once come to this end of the starry sky? A chill crept over Ye Fan’s heart. How was he to resolve this?

“There is no other way. Only if my own Dao rises above all other Daos can this be overcome!”

Ye Fan harbored no illusions. He could rely only on himself. The ancient demonic human had once said to him at the desolate star of Mars: having multiple scriptures upon one’s body, unifying them in mastery is a blessing — but if they cannot be fused into a single furnace, great catastrophe will follow.

Over the past years, he had continuously been absorbing and digesting several ancient scriptures, drawing upon the essence of all Emperors, creating his own Dao — one could say he had prepared fully, with deep reserves ready to burst forth. Yet the Dao Self born just now had already encountered problems.

“Break free — it must succeed. Above the divine form, I must create my own Dao!”

The nine young Emperors pressing in on him represented a form of training beyond imagination. They forced him again and again to transform himself, to give birth to the Dao Self anew.

“My Dao…”

On this day, Ye Fan endured suffering that no person in the world could have imagined. His body was shattered to dust dozens of times; he gave birth to the Dao Self over and over, severing it from his true body.

Failure after failure, beginning again from nothing each time. The original source of his life was nearly completely exhausted — all for the sake of rising above all Daos, refusing to yield.

In the end, he even awakened the Faded Self from within him. It was as though another god had appeared inside his body!

The Faded Self, the True Self — also known as the Original Self — and the Dao Self: the three of them cycling together, as though there were three versions of himself. One lived in the past, one sat in the present, another stood in the future. All manner of wondrous visions appeared.

When Ye Fan was slain once more, time seemed to congeal. The Faded Self in the past silently recited scriptures for this current life. The True Self’s body existed in the present world. The Dao Self sat in the future, contemplating the Dao.

The True Self’s flesh shattered. Golden blood, snow-white fragments of bone, split shells of flesh — all scattered in every direction, not immediately reassembling.

Between heaven and earth, within the thunder sea, the Faded Self, the Original Self, and the Dao Self recited scriptures and contemplated the Dao in unison. Every piece of flesh and blood, every broken bone, every drop of golden blood began to shimmer.

In a dreamlike haze, flesh, bone, and blood continuously decomposed, transforming into countless ancient stars beyond all counting. There was the brilliance of a galactic river, the magnificence of great stars, becoming a scene of surpassing glory!