Ye Fan boarded one of the great warships. Cold metal flowed, covered in intricate symbols — Dao principles and advanced technology interwoven, giving it extraordinary structural integrity. This was a rare material refined through trillions of refinements.

Divine principles interlaced. Enormous bursts of flame erupted at intervals, terrifying energy surging violently, the void packed densely — an extraordinarily dangerous environment that had become a place of annihilation.

Both sides had driven their battle to a white-hot peak. No one noticed him. Concealed by the array runes, every trace of his aura was masked. He blended into the battlefield and waited for an opportunity.

“Qi Family — you go too far!” An elder powerhouse of the Brahma clan roared. His divine sense expanded outward across the cosmos as he drove a mechanized armor of ancient-saint level in a charge.

Ye Fan fixed his eyes on that war instrument, and light glimmered in his gaze. “A fine one,” he said quietly. “Though seizing it would be far too difficult.”

Whoosh!

A crimson ancient-saint mechanized armor rose and charged toward the Brahma clan’s veteran powerhouse, wielding a divine flame sword. It came forth like a divine phoenix bathed in immortal flame, its sacred-level waves surging vast and boundless.

The two transformed the area between them into an ocean of divine power, and more than thirty small spacecraft detonated in rapid succession, metal fragments scattering in all directions. Then, black holes appeared one after another, separating the combatants as sources of destruction.

The grand battle erupted everywhere. It was most terrifying near the great motherships, where even a single exchange could annihilate entire fields of planets, or raise light screens to protect one’s own fleet.

Boom!

A spacecraft five hundred zhang in length detonated, metal fragments spraying outward and damaging dozens of smaller warships, destroying them.

Ye Fan furrowed his brow. Large-scale combat in the star sea was indeed brutal — death could arrive at any moment.

“Qi Family — you will pay for this!” The Brahma clan cried out.

The Qi Family responded from aboard their mothership, their tone contemptuous: “Heaven’s plunderers have only yourselves to blame. You seized our Fate Stones first. Then our clan’s Ancestral Saint descended, and an agreement was reached — you promised to deliver evolution fluid in settlement, and the conflict was resolved. Yet you have dragged your feet to this day with no gesture whatsoever.”

This time their operation had gone smoothly. They had broken into the plunderers’ Pure Land and seized a portion of the precious fluid directly. Had the evolution fluid not been divided and stored in multiple separate locations, they would have looted every last drop.

Boom!

Ancient-saint mechanized armors clashed in the distance. Nearby, ancient divine symbols flashed and pulsed. Both sides fought for their lives, thermal weapons and Dao armaments unleashed simultaneously — a dazzling, brilliant spectacle.

It was a place of chaos. Spacecraft detonated at intervals, blazing like fireworks in the star sea, resplendent and fierce.

The warship Ye Fan had boarded was a thousand zhang in length, spacious within, with powerful combatants stationed aboard — but no ancient-saint mechanized armor. He wandered through it entirely and then switched to several other vessels. None had one either. Ancient-saint-level mechanized armor was far too precious; even the Brahma clan had few remaining, and what little they had was likely on the mothership.

Ye Fan positioned himself beside the mothership and waited patiently. No ancient-saint-level war instrument ever appeared. He stroked his chin. “Could it be that after I destroyed their five-element divine armors, they’re stretched so thin they can’t even deploy any more?”

In the end, he boarded the mothership itself — sheer boldness born from sheer skill. As long as no Saint was present, he believed he could get through without serious harm.

“Intruder detected!”

Suddenly, the vast alarm sounded. The moment he entered, countless symbols lit up — he’d been discovered.

It wasn’t the scanners that detected him — it was a person. It made him break out in cold sweat all over his body. It felt very much like an ancient saint — a living, breathing human being.

“You have nerve — daring to board the mothership!” This powerfully built, dignified middle-aged man swung his fist and launched a killing blow.

Ye Fan’s scalp went numb. He truly felt the aura of a Saint. He had never imagined that the moment he showed himself, he would run into a colossus of this magnitude. There was no choice — he could only steel himself and meet the attack head on.

In that instant, he pushed his physical body’s power to its absolute limit. After all, the other party was also attacking with raw physical force — he wanted to seize the initiative and deal a severe blow before the other party could adjust.

“Hmm — something is wrong. Far short of the true body!” When the two clashed, Ye Fan’s expression shifted to something strange. The magical power waves were terrifying, but not the supremely invincible force he had imagined. Was this an avatar?

“Youngster — are you the one with the Immortal Golden Body, the one who can actually contest with my replica?!” The middle-aged man’s expression became one of surprise.

This was a combat body cultivated from the flesh and blood of an ancient saint, with a fragment of the saint’s Primordial Spirit inhabiting it. Its physical body was absolutely of the ancient-saint level — its magical power was somewhat lacking, but still exceeded that of a half-saint.

“Ha — if it’s not a true ancient saint, this becomes a different matter.” Ye Fan’s heart settled completely, and he took the initiative and charged.

Boom!

Battle erupted. The two clashed fiercely. This ancient saint’s expression changed. He opened a light screen and activated the super combat arena within the mothership, choosing to fight there rather than risk destroying the holy ship.

“What is happening?” Aboard the mothership, the core members of the Brahma clan’s inner circle all changed expression.

When they looked and saw, each and every one was left speechless. A combat body forged from the flesh and blood of an ancient saint ancestor — and it was being suppressed by Ye Fan, pounded until blood gushed from its mouth.

Swoosh!

Behind Ye Fan, the five-colored divine radiance swept outward, and this ancient-saint ancestor instantly tumbled two large somersaults backwards, the corners of his mouth dripping blood.

Fan Xian was nearly petrified. Her cherry lips parted into a perfect O, her eyes stretched wide. She simply could not fathom that Ye Fan’s power had reached this level.

“Impossible — that is a combat body forged from the flesh and blood of an ancient saint. How can it not withstand him?” Fan Tian cried out.

“This is beyond comprehension!” Even Fan Tian, the great leader of the Brahma clan, murmured to himself, his pupils blazing with light.

Not a single person was not stunned. This overturned everything they understood. A Dao Severing cultivator making an ancient saint’s physical body bleed — it was like something from a fairy tale.

“He is a true Immortal Golden Body — not a generation or two removed. His golden blood is pure!” The ancient-saint combat body spoke amid the fighting.

He was a fabricated being, but the divine sense within him was a true fragment of the saint — vast in experience and knowledge. Only after suffering so greatly in close combat did he finally understand.

“Stop him — he must not be allowed to leave!” Fan Zhou’s hawk-like eyes swept the scene with wolf-like calculation, his excitement causing him to tremble.

The first-generation Immortal Golden Body was far stronger than any later generation — its value was beyond all estimation. Every drop of golden blood it could be made to yield was comparable to the most supreme of sacred medicines.

Such a constitution — in tens of thousands of years, in hundreds of millions of people, it would scarcely be born once. The first generation had nothing to do with parentage; it was entirely a gift of heaven.

“Quickly — abandon the Qi clan. Let them depart. Focus everything on securing him!” Fan Zhou issued the command.

If this was a first-generation Immortal Golden Body, his blood would be of incalculable worth — its value multiplied many times over, far surpassing even the portion of evolution fluid they had lost.

“If it’s several generations removed, a single full extraction empties the sacred blood of its divine nature for good. But a true first generation is entirely different — it can continuously produce golden divine blood.” An elder of the Brahma clan spoke with intense excitement, then ordered all present to seal this information and let nothing leak out.

Ye Fan was utterly vexed. He had come to fish in troubled waters, and instead had ended up shielding the Qi clan from disaster. He had been singled out, while their fleet was on the verge of escaping.

“Come now — surely you don’t have to do this? I’m only here to look around for an ancient-saint mechanized armor. It’s not as though I’m ransacking your base like the Immortal Feather Qi Family.” Ye Fan didn’t dare linger. He struck out sideways and burst through.

“Stop him — he cannot leave!” A crowd of people shouted.

Simultaneously, two ancient-saint mechanized armors returned from afar, entering the mothership to deal with Ye Fan.

“You all really think I’m easy to push around, do you?” Ye Fan swung his golden fists, pounding the ancient-saint physical body back step by step, blood spraying from its mouth in torrents.

This was his current combat power — without even resorting to magical power, fighting with his body alone, having broken through to the eighth level of Dao Severing after obtaining the evolution fluid. He had become this powerful.

“Fight! I’ll thrash your ancestors!” Ye Fan cursed.

A crowd of people was left reeling, itching with furious resentment. In a certain sense, the combat body on the field — forged from the flesh of a saint — was genuinely an ancestor of theirs. But hearing Ye Fan say it that way, no matter how they thought about it, it felt wrong.

Bang!

That saint’s physical body was battered until its head was cracked and bleeding, its entire form covered in wounds — and still Ye Fan had it suppressed. Every single person who witnessed it was shaken.

At last, the two ancient-saint mechanized armors returned. Ye Fan immediately spun around, summoned his array platform, stepped through a domain gate, and left the mothership. He had no intention of being encircled by the full returning force of Heaven.

“Pursue — he must not escape!” The mothership activated, scanning the entire star sea.

What made them dizzy was that the moment Ye Fan broke out, he plunged straight into the Qi clan’s fleet. Fan Zhou led the pursuit — and could only charge forward in force.

The Qi Family had no idea what was happening. They had just watched Heaven’s people retreat, only for them to suddenly charge back with even more ferocity. Fierce battle broke out all over again.

“I have no interest in shielding anyone else from disaster. You lot carry on. But I’m heading to the Immortal Feather Star anyway, so I could use a ride — otherwise I’d have no idea where it is.” Ye Fan muttered.

He made for the Qi Family’s mothership. This time, he was far more careful — wary of stumbling into another ancient-saint-level monster. Fortunately, nothing untoward occurred.

“This youngster holds many secrets. He’s entered the Qi Family’s holy ship — that complicates matters.” The ancient-saint combat body’s eyes extended beams of light hundreds of miles long, taking in every detail clearly.

They absolutely could not raise a commotion. If the Immortal Golden Body fell into the enemy’s hands, the losses would only be greater. They could only swallow their burning urge to scream profanities and continue their pursuit — killing as they went.

The Qi Family’s several great leaders also had a strong urge to scream profanities. They found that Heaven’s people had gone mad, charging with utter disregard for their own safety — even more violently than before.

Ye Fan entered the mothership and found no monsters within. Even so, he did not dare run wild. He planned to lie low until they reached the Immortal Feather Star, and then simply walk away.

“Young friend Ye — simply return with me to Heaven’s Pure Land, and I will immediately betroth Fan Xian to you. Should there be any difficulty, I am willing to suffer the destruction of both my body and soul!” Fan Zhou swore an oath, channeling a divine thought through the ancient-saint combat body into Ye Fan’s ear. Though they were separated by dozens of miles, every word was perfectly clear.

On the Brahma clan’s side, everyone was stunned. Fan Xian especially — she opened her mouth as if to say something, her beautiful eyes wide, her face a picture of shock.

“I mean every word!” Fan Zhou said.

“Give me half a year or so to think it over.” Ye Fan said languidly. He had made himself at home within the Qi Family’s mothership, completely at ease. He knew that Heaven’s people would never dare let his presence there become known.

The interior of the holy ship was vast, with an armory, a dining quarter, and a rest area — everything one could need. It was a large mobile base, its interior governed by spatial laws, and far more spacious inside than it appeared from without.

Without noticing how he got there, he arrived in the rest area and entered a chamber that looked extraordinarily luxurious and comfortable. As he saw it, with a great battle raging outside, absolutely no one would be resting.

“Let you two sides carry on. I’ll take a short rest here, recover my energy, and once we reach the Immortal Feather Star I’ll step off this carriage on my own.”

Ye Fan lay back on a soft, wide bed. A jade pillow carved from Nine Heavens divine jade radiated gentle brilliance, and a quilt refined from Golden Crow feathers was warm and supremely comfortable. Every detail of this room was extraordinary.

Half a quarter-hour later, he snapped his eyes open. Someone was coming — and heading directly for this room.

The door swung open. A graceful silhouette appeared — a beauty that transcended description, hair gleaming like starlight, dressed in feather robes, looking like the Mysterious Lady of the Ninth Heaven herself.

“You — who are you? Why are you lying in my bed?”

“You’ve walked into the wrong room. The head of the Qi Family informed me this room is temporarily under my occupancy.” Ye Fan said with shameless composure.

“Nonsense! You — get up this instant!” The young woman, whose looks could make fish sink and birds fall from the sky, scolded with bright fury.