The Eternal Main Star was filled with noise and commotion. Dark currents surged in all directions. Every power was growing restless. A great era of expansion had arrived. An unprecedented opportunity lay before them.

Every great clan was recruiting soldiers. Anyone with sufficient strength would be welcomed without question. All of them wanted to secure an early advantage in the coming territorial battles.

“Primordial ancient mines — how exciting. A place like that truly exists? I’m confident a meaningful quantity of primordial life stones can be excavated there. If that divine primary material exists, then perhaps others can be found as well. Truly thrilling — perhaps even a fifth-stage, or even sixth-stage immortal evolution fluid could be refined!”

A glorious prospect and a grand vision: the many great clans were stirred with excitement. To them, this place might become a sacred land of resurgence — a chance to restore the Eternal Nation to the glory it had known in ages past.

Ye Fan alone furrowed his brow. These people wanted to excavate the primordial ancient mines — were they tired of living? Did this ancient star have several quasi-emperors who would arrive wielding the battle armor left behind by ancient divine beings?

“This will set off a great transformation. When we discovered a resource star like this one in the past, it advanced our civilization’s progress by fifty thousand years in a single leap!”

This time — a hundred thousand years? Or even longer? Time would tell.

Ye Fan moved about with purpose, in and out of the various recruitment posts, evaluating the great powers. He was looking for a force strong enough to be part of the ten clans — one he could join.

In truth, every clan was recruiting. But the advance party, including the Lanto Clan itself, consisted of only eleven clans total. Everyone else would have to wait for the scouting results before setting out. Ye Fan had no wish to wait that long.

Recruitment was happening across the entire star system. Mercenaries had never been in such high demand. Hired by the great clans, the entire population seemed to be moving like a mass migration.

The interstellar network was in an uproar every day — people debating, arguing, always around the same topic. Naturally there were voices of condemnation: calling it invasion, denouncing it as bullying of defenseless native inhabitants.

But no great power gave those voices a second thought. In their eyes, there was only profit. No resource could be left unclaimed.

Ye Fan weighed his options among the mercenaries and the great powers. With his level of strength, he would be welcomed wherever he went — but his ambitions went further than that. He wanted to climb to a position of real authority. When the time came, he wanted to be able to seize a mother ship.

While the various clans were making their moves, the Dark King Clan alone remained calm, watching in cold silence without any visible preparation. They merely quietly offered a word of caution to a few allied clans, hinting that it would likely be hard to find what they were looking for in that place.

In the past, their ancestors had come from that very place — though few knew this now. Even their own ancestors had never found a way back. They believed the Lanto Clan might not succeed either.

When the Lanto Clan heard this, their leader shook his head with a smile. They said the Demon God was no ordinary figure — he possessed the ancient demon clan’s techniques, which included methods for recording the coordinates of the cosmos. He had paid careful attention to measurement all along the way.

And based on those original, almost primitively ancient coordinates, the Lanto Clan had been able to gradually deduce and calculate — working backward to trace the route and locate that mysterious stellar domain.

When the Dark King Clan learned this, they too began preparations. But their true intention was not to participate — for they dimly recalled an ancestral precept: the Northern Dipper stellar domain held a path to immortality. Ancient great emperors had all traced their way to that place. It was not to be taken lightly.

Even so, they buried all of this in their hearts and said nothing. Outwardly they prepared; inwardly they waited and watched.

Beyond the Dark King Clan, the Celestial Wing Qi Clan had its own separate plans. The old saint Qi Yao Guang had personally consulted Ye Fan and said he would act on Ye Fan’s advice.

“Don’t go. Nothing good comes from going there to plunder.” Ye Fan had said only this single sentence, offering no other information about the Northern Dipper.

The Qi Clan immediately lowered their banner and held their position. They were extremely cautious, unwilling to wade into these murky waters. From the calm certainty in Ye Fan’s words, they sensed a killing intent within.

“You don’t get a choice about preparing, even if you don’t want to. Someone is watching you closely. Everyone knows your clan once helped me, and some of the great clans have already speculated that I come from the Northern Dipper — Zhao Qing Chuan in particular has a keen and analytical mind. He will certainly be observing your movements.”

“Boy, you really are something — isn’t this just setting a trap for us?” Qi Yao Guang said.

Ye Fan’s expression grew serious. “They are about to invade the Northern Dipper stellar domain. This will be a war across star systems. Who will live and who will die is genuinely hard to say. I simply don’t want you to stand apart from the rest, and thereby draw unwanted attention.”

This was a long and protracted period of preparation, for a grand expedition was no trivial matter. There was always the possibility of being shattered in the void beyond. The people of the Eternal Main Star were not blindly arrogant. Through the Demon God, they had gathered considerable intelligence about their destination.

Recruiting powerful fighters, constructing warships, refitting mother ships — all of it was being pushed forward rapidly. Various expedition strategies were being researched and debated.

During this time, beyond deliberating on which great power to join, Ye Fan was actively preparing in other ways. He was studying and analyzing the various mineral ores.

He had learned the divine primary materials needed to refine the most powerful evolution fluid. Truly speaking — they were things that appeared only once in ten thousand ages, unattainable by chance or by effort alone. But perhaps some could be discovered in the Northern Dipper.

At present, he was urgently eager to advance his cultivation level. The ancient mirror left behind by Ji Hao Yue had recorded the dangers of the road ahead. Nine pieces of information had left his heart deeply unsettled. To move forward — he had to become a saint. Otherwise, the road ahead was filled with catastrophe, and pursuing this path would likely end in his death. He would accomplish nothing.

“This divine primary material that only appears once in ten thousand ages — the Creation Source Eye?!”

Ye Fan was astonished. No wonder the evolution fluid was priceless. Nothing required to make it was ordinary — every ingredient was a peerless rarity. Most astonishing of all were the nine primary materials, each one more precious than the last.

Heavenly Fate Rock, Creation Source Eye, Grand Luo Immortal Vine, Primordial Life Stone, Heart of the Death Realm… which of these was not something that defied the heavens?!

In essence, the number of divine primary materials one possessed determined which stage of evolution fluid one could refine. The other primary materials could be substituted with alternatives, supplemented by dozens of auxiliary rare minerals — and with that, it was generally achievable.

As he had seen in Heaven’s Pure Land: they lacked the Grand Luo Immortal Vine and substituted it with the withered star vine’s core. They had only the Heavenly Fate Rock, the Primordial Life Stone, and a small piece of the Heart of the Death Realm — and they had successfully refined a third-stage evolution fluid.

Of course, their preparations had been very thorough. All of the auxiliary rare minerals had been assembled at high quality. And the missing primary materials had all been replaced with reasonably decent substitutes.

After studying this in detail, Ye Fan fell into thought. To refine the ninth-stage, fully completed immortal-grade evolution fluid — that was simply impossible to achieve!

Not just the ninth stage — even the eighth and seventh would be extraordinarily difficult. The most celebrated event in the Eternal Main Star’s history over the past fifty thousand years had been when someone barely managed to refine a sixth-stage evolution fluid.

“After I robbed the purple-pupil woman at the Undying Mountain, the Heavenly Fate Rock had only just begun to dissolve, enough only to extract the first-stage evolution fluid. It was left behind in the Heavenly Village — it should still have great use. Beyond that, I could ask the Holy Emperor to request the help of the Battle Victor Buddha — perhaps he could obtain a Primordial Life Stone from the primordial ancient mines. As for the Heart of the Death Realm — I think I may already have one!”

During his journey along the Ancient Star Road, he had spent time on a star covered entirely in dried bones. He had witnessed a saint-level bone entity do battle with a golden saint ship, and in the end had gone deep into the earth’s core — where he had taken away a piece of mineral ore filled with death energy. Now, having arrived here, he finally learned what it truly was: the Heart of the Death Realm.

This mineral ore could only be born in a place of absolute death — and even then, the odds were one in a billion. The black ore contained an undying miracle within it. It was among the rarest things in existence!

Ye Fan studied carefully and read extensively, and at last came to understand a great deal of valuable information. If he could return to the Northern Dipper this time, he would make a special effort to seek out and collect these materials.

To do so would benefit not only himself but also his old companions. With these things, they could all undergo a qualitative transformation. Every step forward could shorten a cultivator’s training time by a hundred years. The significance was immense!

In the blink of an eye, four months had passed. The various clans of the Eternal Main Star pushed forward with urgency. Preparations were drawing to a close. It was clear that they were taking this journey with great seriousness.

Ye Fan chose to join a great royal clan said to be undying — a clan upon which the sun never set. An ancient family like this had produced great saints throughout its history. Some of those were still alive today, with saint kings standing guard over the clan. Hence they were counted among the great prince-level powers.

The Cao Clan. The Lanto Clan’s own forces. The Fan Clan of the Celestial Wing Star Sea. The Mo Clan of the Nascent Demon Star Sea. The Zhao Clan, to which Zhao Qing Chuan belonged. The Never-Setting Royal Clan. And others — together with the Lanto Clan themselves, a total of eleven great clans.

Battle preparations were nearly complete. The time to assemble and set out on the expedition was fast approaching. A war spanning star domains was about to unfold.

Ye Fan was no longer as optimistic as before. This stellar domain truly had its share of powerful figures — it was not nearly as simple as he had imagined. If a great saint came along piloting divine-being battle armor, it would likely be a catastrophe for those on the receiving end.

He was not pessimistic, however. Since there was no stopping it, all he could do was follow along — and inform the Northern Dipper’s saints in advance. Perhaps this would give rise to the grand spectacle of ancient great emperors’ weapons clashing against ancient divine beings’ battle armor.

“I should prepare some gifts for them — for instance, passing a few sketched maps to the eleven great royal clans. It would be best if I could draw them toward the primordial ancient mines, the ancient clan strongholds, and places like those.”

But doing this carried great risk. Who would believe him? If he presented a map, he would likely be immediately seized and investigated.

Then, finally — an opportunity arrived. An event that followed set off a tremendous wave.

A pair of siblings from the Violet Cloud Clan, who had been lost in the cosmos for years, returned — bringing astonishing news. They said they had visited the Northern Dipper stellar domain, having fallen near a peculiar region called the Undying Mountain.

They had remained there in hiding for many years. But in the end, an accident had occurred — the evolution fluid they had refined was stolen by a native inhabitant.

“That was truly a treasure land. Based on this pair of siblings from the Violet Cloud Clan’s description, the Lanto Clan’s words have been confirmed as credible. The native inhabitant was one of the supreme physiques of the cosmos. That land may truly have a great number of powerful bloodlines.”

“Miss Zi Yan has finally returned — she is the pride of the Violet Cloud royal clan. To have entered the cosmos alone alongside her brother for so many years to refine evolution fluid — truly admirable. She is the most beautiful spirit of the Eternal Main Star, comparable to Qi Meng of the Celestial Wing Star Sea and Fan Xian.”

When Ye Fan received the news, he was momentarily stunned. The pair of “alien” siblings had escaped and returned — they had once been his captives, and only now had they made it back to their home star.

Zi Yan, as beautiful as a spirit, and her brother — their group had suffered immensely. Their mother ship had been seized. All that remained was the golden battle-armor deity contained within, which had continued to leap through space. They had become lost in the cold and dark of the cosmos more than ten times, nearly dying in the void — surviving by the narrowest of margins.

The warriors who had returned with them were immediately divided in secret among the various royal clans, each lured away with lavish rewards — all for the sake of learning more about that ancient star.

It was a pity that these warriors knew little of real use. They had spent years buried in the refinement of evolution fluid and had no genuine understanding of what the Northern Dipper stellar domain truly was.

They did mention a few important things: that when they had been preparing to leave, they had captured a number of unusual beings of strange races, whose bloodline power was indeed extraordinary. This only made the people of the Eternal Main Star more excited.

Ye Fan began to act. He released various versions of secret maps, letting people believe these had been leaked by the returning travelers.

Once that was done, there remained one thing he had not yet resolved: rescuing the Southern Demon. For months he had been working toward this — trying to confirm his identity, but never able to get close. The Lanto Clan was far too vigilant.

At last, before the expedition set out, the old saint Qi Yao Guang brought him a crucial piece of news. Rumors had been spreading wildly in recent days. All manner of Northern Dipper star maps were everywhere, and the major royal clans — with no way to verify them — had banded together to pressure the Lanto Clan, demanding they reveal everything the Demon God knew.

In the end, the ten clans preparing for the expedition applied enough pressure that the Lanto Clan had no choice but to disclose the truth — letting them examine the Demon God’s memory sea. Nothing was a secret any longer.

“What?! The Demon God is a replica — not the man himself?” Ye Fan was somewhat surprised, but not greatly so. He had long suspected it. Most likely, that was not the real Southern Demon.

“Correct. Within his memory sea, there is a single mark left by the Southern Demon. The greater portion belongs to a half-saint of the Lanto Clan.” Qi Yao Guang said.

The Southern Demon had once battled the Lanto Clan — and in his effort to rescue his sister Qi Huo Shui, he had nearly died, losing a great deal of demon divine blood. The Lanto Clan had used it to forge that demon god body.

Qi Yao Guang said: “Several years later, that terrifying man who resembled a demon god returned and cut down many of the Lanto Clan’s finest warriors. But under the intervention of an ancient saint, he was forced to abandon a divine incarnation and flee — gravely wounded, on the verge of death.”

Ye Fan was astonished. The Southern Demon was truly remarkable — to escape from the hands of an ancient saint, he must have either been extraordinarily well-prepared or reached a level of power that defied imagination.

“In that case — within the memory sea of that replica’s divine incarnation, there is now a mark left by the Southern Demon?”

“Correct.” Qi Yao Guang nodded.

“Since the Lanto Clan has revealed the secret — has anyone examined the memory within that divine incarnation?” Ye Fan asked.

“I looked at it personally.” Qi Yao Guang showed it to him.

In the end, Ye Fan was completely stunned. The Southern Demon had truly been ruthless. To have abandoned his divine incarnation, nearly bleeding out and dying — it was absolutely deliberate.

Because those marks were terrifying traps for anyone who would come looking. The Northern Dipper contained within the Demon God’s memory sea seemed to have very few ancient saints. The memory map clearly indicated the locations of certain ancient clan strongholds, suggesting there were divine treasuries hidden there.

That divine incarnation had absolutely been tampered with by the Southern Demon before abandoning it. It was left there intentionally!

“This… is a killing trap laid against the ancient clans — driving the tiger to devour the wolf — letting the people of the Eternal Main Star and the ancient clans slaughter one another!”

When the Southern Demon had left, the Northern Dipper stellar domain was embroiled in a sea of fire. The threat from the primordial ancient clans had been immense — at any moment they could sweep everything away and leave billions dead.

In a sense — the Southern Demon had been forced to leave!

Ye Fan had released his own maps, wanting to do the same thing. But it had been imperfect — for he had never been reduced to the Southern Demon’s circumstances, and had not been able to exploit the current situation the way the Southern Demon had.

The Southern Demon’s arrangements had been thorough, bringing to life exactly the intent that Ye Fan himself had hoped to achieve. The two of them had arrived at the same conclusion without consulting one another.

“Ruthless indeed!” Ye Fan let out a quiet laugh. The Southern Demon was formidable, as expected.

“Wuuu…” The war horn left behind by an ancient great saint rang out across the heavens. One after another, the Eternal Main Star’s mother ships rose from the ground and sailed toward the already-opened star gate.

The Violet Cloud royal clan had joined in as well. Now a total of twelve great royal clans were on the move. Each had deployed at minimum four mother ships, along with an abundance of ancient saint battle armor and saint kings to oversee the vanguard!