Dao Yi’s expression stiffened. He had never anticipated the emergence of a third imperial weapon. Would this truly turn the tide? Could it be that everything was about to fail at the very last moment?

“Fellow Dao-brother, I truly am ill and have no choice but to do this. Lend me the Ancient Tree of Life, and I will turn and leave this instant — I’ll return it next time,” Ye Fan said with an air of complete sincerity.

Dao Yi’s expression showed a flicker of concern. He had no desire to give in, and tried to stall for time — but Ye Fan gave him no opportunity. Holding the Green Cauldron, he pressed it down. It was already on the verge of threatening the Ancient Emperor’s formation diagram.

Yan Qi, seeing this, spoke even in the midst of battle: “Fellow friend, help this old man escape from this trap, and there will be generous reward. From this day forward, Fire Qilin Cave and you will be eternal friends.”

“Senior need not be alarmed — I will rescue you.” Ye Fan pressed the Green Cauldron down another notch. The faint and hazy radiance it emitted was deeply unsettling. Yet he was measured and deliberate, keeping himself from entering the formation proper. “Since my abilities are low and I lack fine techniques, would Senior first transmit to me a divine technique from an ancient imperial scripture — to help me break through this formation.”

Yan Qi seethed with inward fury. He had already lowered himself, yet this scoundrel was still taking advantage of his predicament to squeeze out more from him.

Huo Qizi’s eyes burned with killing intent, flickering like twin flames — but Ye Fan completely ignored him, not sparing him even a glance.

“Fellow Dao-brother, I have a hidden injury and urgently need an immortal medicine. If you will not help me, then so be it — I might as well not live. Let this Ancient Emperor’s formation be the place that buries me.”

Ye Fan pressed harder. The Green Cauldron blazed with gorgeous radiance, life essence surging in all directions. It dropped dozens more zhang, grinding away a great many ancient imperial Dao-mark symbols.

These were extensions of the formation diagram’s divine power. They did not touch the formation’s main body — but if this continued, the Green Cauldron would truly collide with the formation itself.

Dao Yi’s smile was gone. For the first time in his life, he was being threatened like this. He cursed himself inwardly for having provoked this person at the final moment — he had drawn in an Ancient Emperor’s weapon!

“Ah…!”

Another cry of anguish rang out. Another saint had perished — from the Huntian Clan, a member of one of the Ten Great Royal Clans of the Primordial Era, his divine power capable of reaching the heavens.

“Fellow friend, I will transmit to you a divine technique called the Qilin Slash — capable of killing gods of all kinds. Listen carefully!” Yan Qi could hold himself back no longer. The saints traveling with him were all people worth protecting. To see them die like this was truly grievous.

“Good — I am all ears,” Ye Fan said with a smile.

“Wait.” Dao Yi spoke. He weighed his options, and a small branch appeared in his hand, roughly a chi in length.

At the same time, Yan Qi transmitted a divine thought, delivering a secret technique directly into Ye Fan’s hearing.

Inwardly, Ye Fan gave a cold smile. Did Yan Qi truly think him so easy to deceive? The technique was remarkable — yet it bore a flaw. This conclusion had been derived through rapid deduction using the Battle Word Scripture.

Dao Yi acted decisively and without hesitation. A flash of green radiance — the branch shot upward into the sky and appeared in Ye Fan’s palm. A section of branch that seemed carved from jade, crystalline and translucent, light and color flying from it in all directions.

In the same instant, Yan Qi gripped the divine scepter and charged toward the heavens along the trajectory the branch had traced, attempting to use that path to flee.

But his opponent was also a Great Sage — of invincible valor — and pressed him back down by force. There was clearly no escaping.

“Fellow Dao-brother is being rather petty — you have an entire Tree of Life, yet you give me only this small section of tender branch. It can only treat surface wounds, nowhere near enough to heal my Dao injuries,” Ye Fan sighed.

“Fellow Brother Ye, it is better to learn contentment in life.” Dao Yi’s expression turned displeased. “I have only one section of branch — I do not possess the true Tree of Life. It has been lost somewhere in the depths of the cosmos.”

“Alas — then my injuries cannot be healed. But who is willing to die? Fellow Dao-brother, give me a somewhat thicker section of branch then,” Ye Fan said.

Dao Yi was vexed to his core — for the first time in his life he wanted to beat someone senseless!

This indestructible golden body was truly begging to be struck. Especially seeing him like this, so earnest and sincere — he truly wanted to slap him flying with a single palm.

Dao Yi had set his trap to kill Great Sage Yan Qi — this could not fail. If Yan Qi escaped, the consequences would be catastrophic. Yan Qi’s inevitable revenge would be utterly devastating.

He was growing irritated. And then, at the very last moment, he had provoked this infuriating wrench thrown into his plans. He stared at Ye Fan with a dark expression, the brilliant smile from before no longer possible.

“Ah…!”

Another cry. Another saint of the ancient clan fell — bisected by the formation diagram, blood staining the blue sky.

Yan Qi grew frantic. “Fellow friend, why do you not honor your promise? I have already transmitted you the divine technique.”

Ye Fan’s eyes were cold as he stared at Yan Qi. “Your divine technique I dare not learn — I fear it would send me dissolving into the Dao.”

“Then I will transmit another — this one absolutely without flaw. It is the ultimate divine art from an ancient imperial scripture!” Yan Qi called out. He was inwardly shaken. He had not imagined that Ye Fan would be so terrifyingly perceptive — to have deduced the hidden flaw in the previous technique in such a short span of time.

Dao Yi spoke, his voice rolling like thunder: “Are you not afraid that I will hold Huo Qizi hostage, release Yan Qi to go kill you, and cost you your life?”

“I dare to act this way because I have means to preserve my life. And if you were to do that, everything you have done would come to nothing. I believe a Great Sage of a clan would not be foolish enough to let themselves be threatened by you after gaining their freedom.” Ye Fan smiled mildly.

“What if I were to come and fight you myself?” Dao Yi became utterly fierce. His saint’s might surged like the tide, rolling up ten thousand layers of waves, pouring into the cosmos without end.

Inside the formation, Huo Qizi’s expression changed sharply. He clenched his fists, and fire-torch light blazed from his eyes.

“Come and try!” Ye Fan was utterly forceful, divine light exploding outward. “I am precisely in need of a powerful saint to fight!”

“What you need is a powerful saint — not an ancient imperial prince who has already become a saint!” Dao Yi’s eyes were deep and penetrating, looking straight into his true heart.

Ye Fan smiled, hefted the green bronze cauldron in his hand, then suddenly smashed it downward with full force — making the entire formation diagram shake violently. Perhaps it truly could tear it open.

“Good — fellow friend, help me escape from this trap, and Fire Qilin Cave will repay the debt generously. We will walk the path to immortality side by side!” Yan Qi said.

Huo Qizi bit his lip, blood seeping out. He said not a word. This day was a humiliation to him. He would rather have died fighting than to beg for mercy, and he glared at Great Sage Yan Qi.

“Good — I will lend you a section of the Tree of Life. Take it and heal your injuries.” Once Dao Yi had made his decision, he acted without the slightest hesitation. He snapped off a section of the branch — one-third of it — and flicked it outward.

Ye Fan activated the Soldier Word Scripture, drawing it into his palm. The moment he gripped it, a feeling of ease and comfort spread through his whole body, enveloped by a powerful life force.

“Good — fellow Dao-brother, decisive and forthright, a pleasure to deal with. And so I take my leave. The mountains will remain and the water will flow on — I look forward to our meeting again another day,” Ye Fan said.

Hearing him speak like a wandering river hero from the common world — practically like a mountain bandit — Dao Yi’s face darkened. “Best to meet as rarely as possible.”

Ye Fan waved his hand and walked toward the warship, as though about to board it and depart — but suddenly, his entire person vanished, entering the Green Cauldron and driving it to slam directly toward the formation diagram.

“You…!” Dao Yi’s expression changed sharply.

“Excellent — fellow friend, you truly are thoughtful. We both come from the Big Dipper — we should naturally be of one mind, supporting each other!” Yan Qi laughed aloud.

Yet very quickly he too was dumbfounded. The green bronze cauldron grazed along the formation diagram and did not crash through it — instead, it tore open the void above the planet and vanished in an instant.

Dao Yi nodded, as though he understood. He made no move to stop it.

“What is this…!” The two or three ancient saints still alive beside Yan Qi despaired.

During this process, in the distance a great net appeared, enveloping the warship where Ye Fan had been, covering that entire section of starry sky.

If Ye Fan had left in that direction just now, he would have flown straight into the net and surely been captured. No one had anticipated that he would go in the opposite direction, passing along the edge of the Ancient Emperor’s formation and slipping away.

It was a vast and brilliant net, as though woven from stars spread across the sky, flickering with divine radiance. Every thread was like a stellar river, its mesh covering half the cosmos.

“Youngsters these days, every one more slippery than the last — they’re all so difficult to catch.” In the void, an elder sighed. He put away the net in frustration and muttered: “I never imagined he had an immortal cauldron on him. I missed my chance.”

He never showed himself, hiding in the darkness. After watching for a moment, he too departed — none other than old mercenary Huo Bai.

Ye Fan needed a battle — but not here. With two Great Sages present, each holding an imperial weapon of the extreme Dao, and an Ancient Emperor’s formation diagram as well — if he were trapped here, his divine soul would be destroyed.

Moreover, the divine organization had taken a heavy blow here, and would most likely not let it rest. They could come striking back at any moment. This was not a place to linger.

“The mantis stalks the cicada, while the sparrow lurks behind. I thought I was the sparrow — only to find there was an old mercenary as well. That damned old thing truly was a tough character,” Ye Fan cursed under his breath.

“Ah…!” As the saint of the Shiwang Clan fell, shedding blood upon the ancient star, only a single Huo Qizi remained beside Great Sage Yan Qi. All the others were dead.

“This old man will fight you to the death!” Yan Qi roared in fury, burning his own life force, offering his blood as a sacrifice to the Qilin Scepter.

In that moment, a blue divine radiance visible even from an infinite distance blazed forth — more brilliant by many times than any star in the heavens — sweeping across the sky, illuminating all of Eternal.

The blue-gold divine scepter cut through the cosmos, tearing open a corner of the already-broken Ancient Emperor’s formation diagram. Thunderstruck, it blasted open a passage through the void and sent Huo Qizi surging into it.

“Your Highness — you must live on. With your bloodline, at the very least you will one day reach the level of a near-emperor. My attainment ends here. The Qilin Scepter will be taken by them — but it cannot be sealed forever. An imperial weapon cannot be dishonored. At most they can suppress it with the divine robe of Dao Yan and the formation diagram for a few decades, after which it will fly free of its own accord. The divine spirit within a weapon of the extreme Dao cannot be extinguished by anyone — unless Dao Yi becomes a great emperor.”

“Your Highness, take good care of yourself. I can no longer guard your path forward. Your Highness — take what is best from others. A person like Dao Yi is truly to be feared, someone who can live a long life…”

Yan Qi’s voice grew faint and faded away.

Huo Qizi cried out in anguish — yet entering the darkness of the void, he could see nothing at all and hear nothing at all. He had left that battlefield.

Yan Qi’s body became a slurry of blood. His head still remained intact, but every other part had melted away almost entirely. Yet even so, he and the Qilin Scepter merged as one, still standing there, blocking the way…

Tears blurred Huo Qizi’s eyes. Just moments ago he had been dissatisfied with Yan Qi — angry that he had compromised, furious that he had bowed his head to Dao Yi and Ye Fan. Yet in the end, everything had been to save him. None of it had been for Yan Qi’s own survival.

“Ah…!” From the void, Huo Qizi came tumbling out, landing on a dead star. He clutched his own hair in his fists and knelt upon the ground, letting out a cry that tore his heart and lungs apart.

“I will grow stronger — I will not stop at the level of near-emperor!” He howled with grief, like a wounded beast — alone, weeping in anguish.