Brahma Xian ground her gleaming silver teeth. What connection was there between “beautiful to the absolute extreme” and the “Brahma Heavenly War Body”? This man had an utterly shameless mouth — the kind of person who made you want to stomp on him twice. He was simply infuriating.
“You actually came back. That is genuinely unexpected.” Ye Fan said with a laugh.
“If I hadn’t come back, were you going to kill all of my people?” Brahma Xian asked.
“Not necessarily. I’m a magnanimous sort. Even though you all chased me for a while, one good beating is enough to vent my frustration. At the very most I’d have thrown them into a black hole and let them fend for themselves.” Ye Fan said.
The assembled crowd felt a chill. Aside from someone with a supreme constitution, who could emerge from the edge of a black hole unharmed? They would certainly be reduced to dust — dead without a trace.
“By the way — you’ve lost. Have you come to honor your promise?” Ye Fan looked genuinely expectant, though what he truly thought was impossible to say.
Brahma Xian’s face bloomed crimson with fury. One could faintly hear the grinding of her silver teeth. “I came to rescue them. I will repay my debt from our wager with something of considerable value.”
“That’s quite loyal of you. But what price could possibly compare with a peerless beauty? I remember you said — tonight, I may do as I wish.” Ye Fan said with a teasing smile.
“I will give you the most precious divine object in the world — something of great use to your cultivation, capable of allowing you to break through continuously and reach a state difficult to even imagine.” Brahma Xian said.
“Such a thing exists in this world?” Ye Fan asked.
“It does. It is the ultimate evolution elixir. By now we have gathered a considerable quantity of divine minerals, and before long we will be able to begin the refinement. Perhaps you do not understand what this represents — but ask anyone in the Eternal Realm at random and they will know. It can set a person on the path to supreme power. At the ultimate level of transformation, one transcends into a divine being!” Brahma Xian said with gravity.
“So at present you have nothing — this is nothing but an empty promise. Whether the elixir can be refined, and whether it will succeed, are both still unknowns.” Ye Fan frowned.
“The rarest of all ingredients — the rock of destiny — has been obtained. Every obstacle has been cleared. We possess an ancient method capable of refining pure elixir in the shortest possible time.” Brahma Xian said.
She guided the conversation with patience, doing her utmost to draw Ye Fan in, hoping he would join Paradise. After all, the reason she had wagered against him in the first place was her hope of taking on a powerful retainer.
She had already discerned that this man had come from outside the domain. Now that it was confirmed he possibly carried one of the most powerful bloodlines, combined with his extraordinary natural gifts, he was worth recruiting even more. If she did not act, some other lord would take him in.
“You’re the one who lost, and you haven’t honored your promise — yet somehow you’re trying to get me to join Paradise and serve you? What a calculating mind you have.” Ye Fan laughed mockingly.
“I’m not taking you on as a retainer. I am inviting you to become a first-rank guest adviser — listen to requests, not commands, with complete personal freedom.” Brahma Xian said earnestly, then laid out the situation for him in detail.
In the Eternal Realm, only the most powerful dozen or so factions possessed the capability to refine the ultimate evolution elixir. The rest, even if they managed to find divine minerals, could do nothing with them. Moreover, the management of this star domain was extremely strict — outsiders who entered unannounced would be immediately encircled and attacked.
In this civilization, where technology and the Dao coexisted, outsiders found it very difficult to conceal themselves. Once one entered a city or stepped into any restricted area, there was a rigorous bloodline examination.
In particular, if it became known that he possessed a special constitution and an ancient and noble bloodline, it would attract supremely powerful experts who would come to seize his divine blood.
Ye Fan frowned. He found that Brahma Xian had quite the gift for persuasion. Despite being, in effect, his prisoner, she had managed to move his heart somewhat.
“If the ultimate constitution evolution elixir is refined, your constitution will be comprehensively tempered. In the future, you may well be able to fight on equal terms with a true Paramount Immortal Body or Primordial Demonic Body — you might even surpass them!”
Brahma Xian could not determine precisely how pure Ye Fan’s golden body bloodline was. As she saw it, it might have passed through a dozen or more generations of dilution — but even so, it was more than sufficient. The elixir could comprehensively awaken the dormant divine blood within his body.
Before this, Ye Fan had already scanned through parts of the seas of consciousness of the Bald One and Furry. He concluded that what Brahma Xian said was essentially accurate — she had not exaggerated anything.
His only concern was the Ancient Saint of the Brahma family. That was the truly terrifying element — the one that could genuinely threaten his life. Several holy-grade warships in open cosmic combat would be capable of inflicting fatal damage on him, though at close range in everyday circumstances there would be little to fear.
“You came from outside the domain, and you focus on unlocking the treasures within yourself. My patriarch may be able to help you.” Brahma Xian said.
Ye Fan smiled dryly. He had no interest whatsoever in meeting with such a terrifying figure for any kind of guidance. From the Bald One’s sea of consciousness, he had learned that this Ancient Saint remained concealed somewhere in a patch of star sea, in perpetual seclusion, rarely concerning himself with worldly affairs.
After thinking it over, he decided it was feasible to go. For one thing, he carried a secret treasure gifted by the Saint of Celestial Rotation, capable of sensing an Ancient Saint’s fluctuations in advance so he could flee early. For another, from what he could currently observe, Brahma Xian genuinely wished for him to join — and in the short term there was unlikely to be any conflict of interest, for he had also scanned the divine sense of that clone’s immortal platform.
The Green Emperor had appeared in this patch of starry sky. The ultimate evolution elixir was as wondrous as described — both things held great appeal for him. Perhaps he could use this place to accelerate his cultivation. In another realm, the path to immortality was about to open, and he would need tremendous power to face it. He felt a sense of urgency pressing down on him.
“I’ve only just severed the Dao. Going there — surely your various uncles and elders won’t regard me as someone with a special bloodline and treat me as prey to hunt, will they?” Ye Fan said. He was naturally concealing his true strength.
During his exchange with Brahma Xian, he had not pushed his Dao cultivation to its limit at any point. She had no idea — she had consistently assumed him to be a cultivator who had only recently severed the Dao.
“Rest assured. Wherever you go, factions from all sides will go to great lengths to court you. My uncles and elders are not so short-sighted.” Brahma Xian said with a faint smile.
Ye Fan nodded. He was not truly worried. Aside from the Ancient Saint, if anyone else genuinely wished to turn on him, he was confident he could beat every one of them flat.
He released Brahma Xian’s clone — but just before letting go, gave her upturned bottom a firm slap, sending both her true body and her clone into simultaneous startled cries, nearly driving her to launch a final assault.
Ye Fan rubbed the top of the Bald One’s gleaming, polished head, feeling for the texture, and as he did so unsealed his bindings, laughing: “Really shiny — cleaner than a monk’s.”
Then he yanked a handful of hair from Furry’s chest, cast it aside, and began unsealing all the prisoners one by one.
“Damn it — this punk needs a beating. He’s absolutely insufferable!”
The Bald One seethed and panted. In ordinary life, who ever dared mock his gleaming head? Furry also growled with indignation — yet neither dared step forward. Going up would probably mean getting poked to death with a single finger.
“We’re all on the same side now. No more conflict — try to tolerate each other.” Brahma Xian said.
They boarded the main warship and set out on the return journey, heading toward the star sea where Paradise was located. But just then, a wave of disturbance came from ahead — and an enormous presence appeared.
On the screen it was clearly displayed: a powerful fleet, numbering in the dozens of ships, the central one a golden warship radiating a holy-grade fluctuation.
“They’re from the Primordial Demonic Star Sea — our rivals!” Brahma Xian’s beautiful face changed color.
In this world, there were several life-bearing territories. The central main star was known as “Eternal” — enormous beyond measure, governing all directions. Several smaller life-bearing stars surrounded it: Immortal Feather, Primordial Demonic, and Divine Soil — positioned not far from the main star “Eternal,” as though guarding it at the center.
The plunderers of the Immortal Feather Star Sea and those of the Primordial Demonic Star Sea were in frequent conflict, harboring deep mutual hatred, having clashed violently many times over the years.
Brahma Xian ordered full speed ahead to flee, hoping to avoid the Primordial Demonic faction and not wanting any encounter with them.
“Too late. They have a holy-grade warship capable of spatial jumps. We’re most likely finished this time.” Brahma Xian’s face went white as snow.
Yet the golden holy vessel did not give chase. Several warships each a thousand zhang long, however, shot forward like bolts of lightning in pursuit, clearly intending to let none of them escape.
“Strange — that golden holy ship is damaged. There are terrifying claw marks all over it. What kind of creature could leave marks like those?!” Brahma Xian was stunned.
Through the screen they observed the condition of that golden holy vessel, thousands of zhang in length. The claw marks on its surface were enormous — nearly enough to split it apart entirely.
“Whatever beast left those marks must be thousands of zhang in size. They encountered an extremely powerful life form in the depths of the cosmos and barely made it back.”
“There are survey ships in the fleet — battered and broken — which means they went out to mine. Deploying such an enormous fleet, with a holy-grade flagship, means they must have found divine minerals!”
“Even after being attacked by the beast, they made it back with this many ships. The losses weren’t catastrophic, which suggests they may have successfully retrieved divine minerals. The ships are likely carrying rare primary materials of the same tier as the Destiny Rock.”
Brahma Xian quickly reached these conclusions. Her eyes blazed with eagerness. “If we can bring this intelligence back, it’s essentially an achievement of unparalleled merit!”
“But first… we need to survive this!” The Bald One and the rest all wore expressions of despair.
Behind them, three warships each a thousand zhang in length were closing in — moving faster than them. Beam after beam of light fired outward, capable of piercing through and shooting them down at any moment.
The one redeeming thing was that the golden holy vessel had been damaged and could not perform a spatial jump — otherwise, wiping them out would have taken only seconds.
“Brahma Xian is ahead — the thorny fire-immortal rose herself. Capture her alive for me! Ha ha…” An arrogant laugh rang out.
Through the screen, Ye Fan and the others spotted a violet-haired young man — strikingly handsome in appearance, but clearly not a person of any goodness, leering incessantly at Brahma Xian.
“That’s Mo Feng from the Primordial Demonic Star Sea!” Brahma Xian’s expression soured noticeably. She clearly had a longstanding feud with this man, and if captured now, she would face a fate worse than death.
“Ha ha… My little fairy, you may as well stop running. Our two families are perfectly matched — both plunderers, perfectly suited for each other.” Mo Feng bellowed.
Boom!
A massive beam of light struck. The energy shield was punctured. The Brahma family’s three-hundred-zhang warship was riddled with countless holes, on the verge of destruction.
The three warships pressed forward at full speed, overtaking them. Another colossal beam fired — a blaze of brilliant firelight erupted — and the three-hundred-zhang vessel was blown apart on the spot, reduced to cosmic dust.
“We’re finished. What do we do?” The Brahma family members who had already burst clear of the ship turned pale, Brahma Xian herself included, brow furrowed as they were boxed in by the Primordial Demonic Star Sea forces with nowhere to run.
“I’ll open the way!” Brahma Xian blazed with light. From within her body a secret treasure appeared, enveloping everyone — including Ye Fan — and tearing open space to carry them forward in flight.
“My Lady, let go of the rest of us. Every additional person carried reduces this secret instrument’s power by one degree. Make your own escape first — bring back reinforcements!”
“I’ve already sent out a distress call. Support shouldn’t be long in coming. We just need to hold on.” Brahma Xian said.
“There’s a cosmic storm here. It’s very hard to transmit information through it. Most likely it won’t work.” The Bald One said with worry.
The secret treasure tore open the void and traveled over six hundred li — but in the cosmos, that was nothing. They were quickly spotted again by several warships, which locked onto them and closed in instantly.
“We can’t escape. They’ve sealed the void!” Brahma Xian gritted her teeth.
The assembled group’s faces turned ashen. It seemed as though they could already see the wretched ending ahead. Every one of them tightened their grip on their weapons, preparing to fight to the death.
“Ha ha… Brahma girl — I’ve dreamed of you day and night. I never expected such fate, running into you in this open sky.” Mo Feng laughed loudly, yet his face was written over with cruelty.
Brahma Xian had taken Ye Fan along when she fled, which made him feel that temporary cooperation was possible. He now produced a chess-board array platform, preparing to cross the starry void.
“Little punk — save your effort. This area is sealed. There’s no way to open a star gate.” Furry said quietly.
Ye Fan ignored him. These were ancient Great Emperor formation markings. Even if only entry-level, if they couldn’t cross the void from here, that would genuinely be bizarre.
“Brahma girl, come with me. We made a great haul this time — we found a piece of primordial fate stone. Before long we’ll be able to refine the ultimate evolution elixir. And those others—” Mo Feng laughed loudly, then swept his cold gaze over the rest of them. “Kill them all.”
“That little punk is invoking an array platform using an ascetic cultivator’s method. What a joke — thinking he can escape from a sealed divine domain like that. Far too naive.” Someone stared with cold eyes.
“Kill him first. Except for Brahma Xian, leave no one alive!” Mo Feng pointed at Ye Fan. A beam of light fired from the thousand-zhang warship, intending to begin the slaughter with Ye Fan.
Hum!
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, a tapestry of formation markings tore open the cosmos, opening a domain gate. Within it, an expanse of misty haze stretched toward an unknown region of space. Ye Fan was the first to plunge through.
“This person… he actually did it. He can tear open a sealed space!” The Bald One and the rest cried out.
Brahma Xian vanished in a flash, and they all followed her in. In the blink of an eye, every one of them had disappeared. The massive warship fired hundreds upon thousands of beams of light, sweeping toward the domain gate — but it was too late to stop them.
Mo Feng’s expression changed on the spot. “They’ve escaped — hurry, change course. Send word out — request reinforcements from the Primordial Demonic Star Sea!”
Hundreds of thousands of li away, Ye Fan and the others emerged from the domain gate, putting good distance between themselves and the battlefield — though in terms of stellar coordinates, they had not moved particularly far.
“Good. We’ve cleared that region’s cosmic storm. Send word to the family at once — we may be on the verge of a great windfall!” Brahma Xian was visibly stirred.
Not much time passed before a massive star gate appeared. Two violet giant warships burst through, a great fleet following behind.
Brahma Zhou from the Immortal Feather Star Sea had arrived, piloting in person the holy-grade vessel that had recently captured Qi Meng, with an additional holy ship joining the force.
“Girl — is what you transmitted true?” Brahma Zhou asked.
“It is. The Primordial Demonic faction has obtained the primordial fate stone, and their holy vessel has been damaged — it cannot perform spatial jumps.” Brahma Xian replied, leading Ye Fan and the others aboard the violet-gleaming giant warship.
“Ha ha… Excellent.” From within the other holy vessel, the red-haired young man Brahma smiled with his signature wicked grin, then his expression turned cold and cruel. “Mo Feng dares set his sights on my cousin. This time I’ll make sure his entire clan swallows a lesson they’ll never forget.”
“I’m crediting all of you with an extraordinary merit!” Brahma Zhou stood a full two heads taller than an ordinary man, red hair draped over his shoulders, eyes sharp and penetrating — resembling a great sky-wolf king.
The great fleet opened another star gate, pursuing Mo Feng’s group through the starry sky, unwilling to let them get away. The primordial fate stone was of critical importance.
It was a mineral rarely seen across all of eternity. Countless generations had searched for even a single small fragment and failed. It could substitute for two primary materials in the refinement of the ultimate evolution elixir — a stone of rare and extraordinary value beyond measure.
Brahma Zhou came before Ye Fan, accompanied by Brahma Xian. Within his eyes, mountains and rivers shifted, the sun and moon fell, stars turned — all manner of terrifying phenomena appeared. This was a formidable figure.
“I’ve heard from Xian that it was you who led them to safety and got the message out. If the primordial fate stone comes into our hands, we can begin refining immediately. When that time comes, I will present you with the immortal elixir — enough to let you advance several minor sub-levels!”
A wave of turbulence rose in Ye Fan’s heart. If he could truly break through here and advance several minor sub-levels — he wondered whether he might achieve the Saint tier on the spot. He felt far from calm at the thought.