The divine skin ancient scroll… the Tree of Life… all of it was a part of the trap — all to lure Great Sage Yan Qi into the Ancient Emperor’s formation, where he could be destroyed.
The curtain fell. The killing formation began!
This was a slaughter. Brilliant light and piercing radiance — streaks and beams of it transformed into the cries of dragons and the calls of phoenixes, sweeping out to cut down every hero present.
Deep within the mountain range, Dao Yi watched it all with calm composure. The Great Sage at his side had already made his move, focusing his efforts to suppress the blue-gold divine scepter of Fire Qilin Cave.
From ancient times, what has been mightiest — setting aside living great emperors — was naturally the weapons and formation diagrams they left behind. Especially the latter: they required no channeling of divine power. Once activated, they were the equivalent of an Ancient Emperor striking in person.
Blood flowers flew. The saints of the ancient clan fled in crushing defeat, one skeleton after another left behind, one life after another ended. Within the Ancient Emperor’s killing formation, they were as fragile as porcelain.
Each streak of light that passed left a person dead — body riddled with cracks, divine soul included. The assembled saints bled and fell.
Bang!
A black ape as large as a mountain, demonic wings upon its back, crashed onto its back into a pool of blood. A ray of ancient imperial sword light had pierced through its forehead — killed in a single blow.
“Ah…!”
Another ancestral king, his body transforming to four heads and eight arms, defended against attacks from all four directions — yet still it was in vain. In an instant his body was riddled with bloody holes, and he died with unwilling eyes.
No one could resist. They charged madly about, trying to escape — but how could they break free?
The Ancient Emperor’s formation diagram had been activated and ran of its own accord, requiring no human hand to guide it. This was a killing ground sealed off from the cosmos. Where the beams of light swept, there was only destruction.
The entire planet had been locked down. In this moment, not a single person could escape. Blood-energy filled the air, Dao-patterns wound in strand after strand, interweaving into a world of asura.
“Great Sage, save us!” The assembled saints converged upon Yan Qi’s position — at this moment, only around him could they find support. The blue Qilin Divine Scepter awakened and suppressed the cosmos, forming a brief haven of relative calm.
Within this formation, great mountain peaks transformed into Dao-marks and pressed forward. The Ancient Emperor’s grand formation could endow all things in heaven and earth with a divine will, granting them brief immortality, co-existent with the extreme Dao.
A powerful member of the ancient clan — pitch-black throughout, with wings spanning more than ten li — attempted to soar into the heavens and escape. But two converging mountain peaks crushed him from both sides, turning him to pulp. His blood flowed down like a small river in a winding stream.
A powerful member of the ancient clan with a human head and serpent body, stretching eight or nine li in length, slithered and coiled — only to be torn apart by a web of formation-patterns. Blood dyed the earth.
This was a battle too horrific to witness. Even a broken and incomplete Ancient Emperor’s formation with fewer than thirty percent of its formation diagrams remaining was still capable of cutting down every champion under heaven.
There was no suspense now. The formation diagram roused itself, dim and vast, its interwoven radiance spreading across every corner of this planet. Gods met slaughter if gods dared enter; Buddhas met death if Buddhas dared approach.
Yan Qi roared with fury, eyes bloodshot and wide with rage. Every member of Fire Qilin Cave aside from himself and Huo Qizi had been killed. And of the ancient saints from other clans who had followed them, all but eight or nine had been swiftly annihilated.
It had happened so fast — it was practically an instant kill.
This was the might of an Ancient Emperor. Supreme in his own age, and after death still awe-inspiring through the ages — utterly unstoppable.
Great Sage Yan Qi bellowed with fury. He wielded the divine scepter to tear apart the heavens, seeking to cut open a path to life. The blue light swept the vast sky — he could protect the few people near him and temporarily hold back the formation diagrams, but his opponent also possessed an imperial weapon, and it came killing its way toward him rapidly.
The divine robe of Dao Yan radiated hundreds of millions of strands of light. Behind, immortal energy condensed into dozens of golden immortal swords, which swung down in unison, striking Yan Qi back step by step, blood spraying from his mouth.
Dao Yi was well-versed in this place’s imperial formation, and had told the Great Sage at his side how to move freely within it. Combined with the protection of the divine robe of Dao Yan, this person’s valor was unmatched in this domain.
The aura he now displayed was considerably more powerful than a few days before, driving the Great Sage of Fire Qilin Cave to a change of expression. This person was no weaker than Yan Qi.
This was a battle to the death. Whether the ancient clan could survive depended entirely on whether Yan Qi was strong enough — he alone could defy the heavens.
“Do you dare battle me?”
Huo Qizi let out a long howl. His full head of blue hair whipped about. The qilin pattern across his tall, powerful body blazed into life. The blood throughout his body roared like thunder, making the heavens themselves crack apart.
Dao Yi stood straight and tall, radiant as the morning glow, and smiled: “Why would I not dare? But do you still have the life to fight me?”
“Yan Qi, hold off the one wearing the imperial robe. I will go kill that troublemaker.” Huo Qizi spoke. Beneath his feet, strands of pattern-markings appeared, and an ancient diagram manifested with them. It bore him forth as a streak of light charging outward.
Dao Yi’s expression changed subtly. He composed himself and prepared to fight.
It was a qilin diagram — as though alive, severing the formation-patterns rising from the ground, shielding Huo Qizi. It was worthy of being called a divine artifact.
“To be capable of moving within a broken Ancient Emperor’s formation — given its materials and so forth, though it does not qualify as an imperial-grade weapon, it can still be counted among immortal treasures. Forged by the hand of an Ancient Emperor.” Dao Yi murmured quietly.
Every Ancient Emperor commanded divine power that transcended all ages. Beyond their own weapons, they may also have refined certain life-preserving treasures for their children and others.
“Your Highness — let us help you finish him!” Luan Feng and Mi Luo, who had been absent for many days, both spoke up at the same time.
“No need. You are unfamiliar with the Ancient Emperor’s formation diagrams, and without an imperial weapon to protect your bodies, a single wrong step would mean death. Moreover — I need him. I want to fight him myself.” Dao Yi smiled, at ease, unconcerned.
He pointed a finger, and a jade pendant appeared. It tore open the void, opening a hidden passage that allowed Luan Feng and Mi Luo to depart.
“Return to the Eternal Mother Star — cut down those Big Dipper powerhouses who have not yet come here.” He gave them this order.
Luan Feng and Mi Luo obeyed. Their hearts were stirred — for it was only today that they learned this person was the youngest son of the divine being Dao Yan, sealed within the Divine Source, reborn in this age.
Not long ago, someone had told them that with the divine skin ancient scroll, they could find the Tanmu Star Domain and need not hold back the domain’s sacred beasts. They had not imagined that this mysterious figure carried such extraordinary origins.
The two disappeared. Huo Qizi let out a long howl — fury blazing through him, his hair standing on end. He stamped upon the immortal-treasure qilin diagram and arrived in an instant, engaging Dao Yi in fierce battle.
In Huo Qizi’s hand appeared a blue divine scepter — dazzling and crystalline, radiating a supreme imperial might.
No one had expected this. It shook every mind present. Had a third imperial weapon emerged? How could this be possible?
This was a replica — identical in appearance to the Qilin Divine Scepter, also a forbidden instrument, with only a limited number of uses — yet its power was not inferior.
In the past, when Ye Fan had set out to kill the Sky Imperial Prince, he had fought several ancient imperial princes in battle and encountered such a thing. He had withstood it then with the Green Cauldron.
Now Huo Qizi suddenly produced this replica of an imperial weapon, intending a single decisive strike — to turn the tide of battle in an instant through his own power alone, and cut down the source of all this trouble.
For the few remaining saints were also on the verge of falling. Every second that passed brought fresh blood — a burden too heavy to bear.
Dao Yi’s smile faded. A faint golden light rose upon his body, and a terrifying immortal robe of undying nature draped itself over him — imperial might spreading in all directions.
He too had a replica of an imperial weapon, which now suddenly appeared. Surging golden energy boiled upward, rolling outward, threatening to tear heaven and earth asunder.
The two did not come into direct contact. This was a confrontation between ancient imperial weapons. Their own strength was irrelevant. They battled from a distance.
The blue divine scepter struck downward. Dao Tribulation Gold immortal light danced in the air. Between the two, a blinding radiance erupted as they collided head-on from afar.
“Pft!”
Huo Qizi spat a mouthful of blood. He was flung sideways through the air, his full head of blue hair standing straight on end. He opened his mouth and a bolt of thunder-light shot forth — like an enraged qilin — charging to kill once more.
Dao Yi stood unmoved, continuing the long-range battle with Huo Qizi. Between them the air was hazy with mist. Thousands of Dao-patterns intertwined, the two replica imperial weapons clashing again and again.
“Do you dare fight me outside the domain — cast aside the imperial weapons and fight on pure ability?” Huo Qizi shouted.
“You are not my match,” Dao Yi said calmly.
“My imperial weapon replica was cracked by the immortal cauldron, so it naturally cannot suppress your divine robe. Do you dare fight me in a battle of true strength, to the death?” Huo Qizi said.
“First: your cultivation is a full level below mine — to fight me means certain death. Second: you have already entered the trap. I do not wish to open a gap. Third: if by some stroke of luck you manage to escape, come find me again when your cultivation is high enough — I will accept your challenge then.” Upon learning of Huo Qizi’s cultivation level, Dao Yi laid out these three points.
Huo Qizi had been looked down upon. His eyes blazed like divine lanterns. A surge of suppressed anger rose within him. He let out a howl that shook the nine heavens, driving the divine scepter to its limit — setting it ablaze — willing to trade his life.
“Come back!”
Great Sage Yan Qi called out in alarm. He feared that Huo Qizi would burn through his life source in a desperate, all-consuming strike that might still fail to kill Dao Yi — for he had a feeling that this person had very likely already become a saint.
Yan Qi turned in an instant. The true Qilin Divine Scepter in his hand blazed with radiance that split the cosmos. He swept Huo Qizi back to his side and shielded him behind him.
At this moment, the scene was devastating. Of the twenty-some ancestral kings who had come to the Fifth Divine Star in total, only five or six now remained. All the others had died in battle.
The situation was dangerously critical. If this continued, everyone would die. Their opponents had an imperial weapon, an Ancient Emperor’s formation diagram — it was impossible to resist.
“Your Highness — use the qilin diagram to escape first!” Yan Qi transmitted his voice in secret. Bitterness filled his heart — he had a premonition of ill omen.
But Dao Yi stood calmly in the not-too-distant place, giving them no opportunity — ready at any moment to strike at Huo Qizi.
“Can Heaven truly intend our destruction?” Great Sage Yan Qi despaired. The only thing worth being grateful for was that one Ancient Emperor Princess had not come — otherwise, all hope would truly have been destroyed.
Dao Yi had taken complete control of the situation. The defeat and annihilation of the ancient clan was only a matter of time. He opened his Heavenly Eye, then parted the clouds and mist, gazing out beyond the domain toward the warship where Ye Fan and old mercenary Huo Bai were. He revealed a grin, and said: “Are you two well?”
Old mercenary Huo Bai sighed deeply: “Old as I am, I had no eyes to see. I pay my respects to Your Highness.”
“Senior is a remarkable figure of his generation — there is no need for such formality. There is still some danger here — please make your departure soon,” Dao Yi said.
“Very well!” Old mercenary Huo Bai replied simply and cleanly, turned around, and disappeared into the depths of the cosmos.
“Fellow Dao-brother, your divine energy runs deep within you, and immortal bones quietly take form. Most likely you bear that indestructible golden body — why not come down for a conversation?” Dao Yi said with a smile.
Blazing light surged upward. The Ancient Emperor’s formation on the planet actually spread outward, and numerous Great Dao symbols flew up from below. This was not the formation itself — but an extension of its divine power — equally terrifying without limit.
Ye Fan smiled as well. “Since we have met, it must be fate. Fellow Dao-brother has shown such hospitality — how could I refuse?”
Boom!
He donned a five-colored divine armor — far more powerful than what he had worn before by many times over. This was the supreme precious armor of the Sage Kings, and now it had fallen into his hands.
That was, of course, the result of his activities in the Eternal Mother Star over the past few days.
Then, holding a rust-mottled green cauldron, Ye Fan pressed it down toward those imperial Dao symbols. Stimulated and put under pressure, the bronze cauldron blazed with green radiance, launching a full counter-assault.
“This is…!”
For the first time, Dao Yi revealed a look of shock — losing his composure from moments before. This aura, vast as the open ocean, was absolutely an imperial weapon, capable of cutting open part of the formation diagram.
With two Ancient Emperor’s weapons combined, they could certainly punch open a path to life, reducing all his preparations to nothing and rendering all his prior efforts wasted.
Dao Yi’s expression grew grave. He could no longer remain calm.
“Fellow Dao-brother, I have an injury and need an immortal medicine to heal. May I trouble you to discuss terms — would you lend me your Ancient Tree of Life for a while?” Ye Fan said, his face entirely earnest.