The mysterious ancient island bore witness to the weight of ten thousand ages. Time was a river; the years were a blade — and upon that island, both had carved their marks deep into the mottled stone.
In the frozen cosmos, starlight poured down. The four hundred and thirty-odd trial participants followed the commanding general of the First City of the Human Race and descended, coming to rest at the edge of the great island.
“The trial grounds are about to open. The path of Dao-proving that belongs to you all begins now. Whether an emperor of breathtaking greatness will emerge — that, we shall wait and see in the days to come.” The commanding general declared.
Beneath him, the great celestial wolf was immense in form, its eyes flickering with cold light as they fixed upon the first barrier of the ancient path through the stars — the Saint-Fallen Isle — as though it had sensed something.
“Awooo—!”
A tremendous roar resounded — the vibration of a spiritual shockwave, wild and overwhelming as the sea, surging like a tide, pouring forth from the savage mountains deep within the island. There were undoubtedly supreme wild beasts dwelling there.
Many faces changed. This island might harbor saint-level beasts. It would not be as simple as merely coming here to comprehend the Dao — one wrong step, and a person might end up as a meal for one of those monsters.
The Saint-Fallen Isle was vast enough. The commanding general explained its layout to the assembled group. On the outer region, it was divided into forty-nine zones. Including the central forbidden area, that made fifty in total.
The commanding general warned: “The central forbidden area is a field of death. For the vast majority of you, the beings within it are supremely invincible. If you wish to live long, do not provoke those above your level.”
Between the forty-nine outer zones stood mysterious barriers — difficult to break through. Once a person chose a zone and entered it, crossing into another zone became extremely difficult. To forcibly break through such a barrier would bring upon oneself a shackling seal equivalent to a million catties of weight.
Everyone listened in silence. These restrictions had likely been put in place to protect the cultivators, preventing them from slaughtering one another — meaning cross-zone combat was not permitted.
“A million-catty seal upon your body — if you then encountered a rival of equal level, death would be certain. This compulsory measure is highly effective.”
In fact, many people might not even be able to bear a million-catty seal at all. Their physical bodies might crack and collapse immediately, reduced to shattered bones and a smear of blood.
Of the four hundred and thirty-seven participants, three had already died by this point. They would be distributed among the forty-nine ancient pathway entrances — clearly more than enough, with fewer than ten people per zone.
Most people held back, choosing to watch and wait, fearing that entering alongside a powerful rival might result in being ganged up on and killed.
This was far from impossible. Over these past few days, some had formed alliances and small groups — their combined strength far exceeding what any one of them could accomplish alone.
All of them had walked the ancient path through the stars. All were masters of their own domains. How different could one be from another? Individual ancient stellar domains naturally produced exceptions.
In a flash of light, the brocade-robed young lord made his move. He was from the ancient Human King stellar domain — his name was Tuoba Yu. His arts touched the very workings of creation, and no one to this day had been able to measure his true depth. He shot straight toward the entrance of the fifth zone.
At the same moment, the bitter-faced monk from the ancient Amitabha stellar domain also moved, chanting a Buddhist invocation as he charged into the fifteenth zone and vanished within.
There was no chance of these two ever meeting. Crossing one zone would bring a burden of a million catties; crossing two, two million — and so on. With ten zones separating them, for either to encounter the other, one would first have to cripple themselves with an enormous disadvantage.
The clear ringing of bells filled the air — bright and melodious. A woman stepped forward from the crowd with a graceful figure: lotus-white arms, long and straight legs, smooth and lustrous dark hair, a radiant crystalline complexion, a sweet face, and large, expressive eyes. Bells adorned her wrists and ankles, tinkling and chiming, their clear sound set off beautifully against the snow-white, delicate body they adorned.
Her teeth were white, her eyes bright, her smile enough to bring down a city. She walked with swaying grace and a trace of self-assured confidence, then stepped into the entrance of the fourth zone, her silhouette disappearing within.
Everyone’s heart skipped a beat. This outstandingly beautiful, sweetly lovely young woman and the brocade-robed young lord from the ancient Human King stellar domain, Tuoba Yu, were adjacent zones — did she intend to cross over?
“Her name is Yu Xian. She comes from the ancient stellar domain of Feathered Transcendence. Her true power is unknown — no one has yet seen her make a move.” Someone murmured, sharing what they knew of her origins. That gave Ye Fan pause. Did the ancient Feathered Transcendence stellar domain have any connection to the Feathered Transcendence Divine Dynasty?
Without a sound, a tall figure stepped out from among the crowd. He was no longer young — crow’s feet had appeared at the corners of his eyes, and threads of silver had crept into his hair.
Though his youth had passed, there was no air of old age about him. Instead, he radiated something martial and powerful — moving with the stride of a dragon and the bearing of a tiger, his gaze sharp as a blade, imposing as a war god descended to the earth.
His cultivation was at an earth-shaking level. A supreme and boundless great path stretched out from beneath his feet, extending all the way to the far reaches of the forty-ninth zone.
Boom!
With a single step forward, heaven and earth resonated in unison. Ten thousand paths trembled. True dragons and immortal phoenixes materialized, as though three thousand demonic gods were reciting sutras — a towering demonic might flooding the heavens.
The man was of tall and powerful build, his temples grayed, his eyes deep and unfathomable, carrying a bearing of supreme dominance — as though a lord of demons was moving through the world.
He entered the ancient pathway of the forty-ninth zone, and with a casual gesture, sent out a seal to block the path behind him, forbidding anyone else from entering.
The crowd looked at one another. This demonic figure was imposing in the extreme — unwilling to share his zone with anyone.
“He cultivates a supreme demonic art. In truth he is only a little over a hundred years old — by the standards of those who have reached such a level of cultivation, he is still quite ‘young.’ And yet his appearance is already so weathered — clearly he has lived through a countless number of trials by slaughter.”
“His name is Ouye Mo. His name alone is known; what stellar domain he comes from, no one can say. But there’s no need to speculate — wherever he’s from, he’s certain to be terrifying beyond measure.”
The fifth to make a move was a woman. She was luminous as the bright moon, pure as a divine being — as though an immortal had descended into the mortal world. One could not call her supremely beautiful, but she possessed a quality of transcendence that set her apart from the mundane.
She was cold. Though a lunar halo of divine radiance enveloped her body, she seemed to exist beyond the world of the living — not to be approached, keeping others at a great distance.
Her skin was ice-clear and jade-smooth. She was not of world-overturning beauty, yet this icy purity and her singular bearing still made her the focal point of all eyes — impossible to ignore, as though she were a cold immortal standing alone in a palace of ice.
Moonlight like flowing water spiraled around her as she entered the ancient pathway of the first zone and flew straight in.
A ripple of response moved through the crowd. She had actually gone directly to the first zone — without the slightest hesitation — becoming the center of everyone’s attention.
“Entering the first zone — what does that signal? Does she have the supreme power to stand above all four hundred and more participants?”
“The numbering of the forty-nine zones doesn’t necessarily indicate rank, but most people still tend to avoid the first zone. She really is confident in herself.”
Quite a few people were taken aback.
The Emperor’s Path was paved with countless bones. The clash of unparalleled heroes was inevitably brutal. But not everything needed to be a competition. Endlessly competing for every single thing proved nothing about one’s dominance — knowing when to yield was also a necessity.
“Her name is Mu Guanghan. It is said she comes from an extremely ancient stellar domain. But exactly which one, no one currently knows.”
After that, the eight or nine most powerful seed-level cultivators entered the Saint-Fallen Isle one after another. Each chose a different path, none overlapping with those who had gone before.
“All of these people must have achieved sainthood!”
For many, the pressure within their hearts multiplied greatly — especially those cultivators who had come intending to break through on the ancient path. They fell into thoughtful silence. Their domains held ancient secrets passed down through generations: it was said that breaking through one’s cultivation realm and strengthening oneself on the ancient path brought immense benefits for the future. And so quite a few had suppressed their cultivation before coming, arriving at a disadvantage for now.
The crowd continued filing in one by one, choosing their entrances. The paths the first dozen or so had taken were almost entirely avoided — no one wished to collide with them too early, since the purpose of this trial was comprehending the Dao, not engaging in combat.
Compared to the cold and quiet zones occupied by the brocade-robed Tuoba Yu of the ancient Human King stellar domain, the bitter monk of the ancient Amitabha stellar domain, Yu Xian of the ancient Feathered Transcendence stellar domain, Ouye Mo, Mu Guanghan, and the rest — Ye Fan’s chosen zone was in a completely different category. The moment he appeared, twenty or thirty people followed, making the zone where he stood by far the most “lively.”
“I advise you not to enter. Otherwise, something… unpleasant may occur.” Blue Maple said lightly, his bearing distinguished, his blue robes shifting like water.
The middle-aged Daoist nun let a cold smile surface as well, standing in the frozen cosmos with her whisk in hand, unrelenting killing intent written across her fine features.
“Some people are too arrogant to heed good counsel. Perhaps only a blood-soaked outcome will show them what reality truly is.” Red Willow mocked, clad in her flame-red battle robes from head to toe.
Their group totaled twenty-three — all powerhouses who had walked the ancient path through the stars, champions of their respective domains, each capable of looking down upon their own stellar reaches. Such combined might was naturally enough to inspire dread. Anyone would change their expression.
Every one of them wore a trace of cold, detached amusement. Each was a formidable master no one could afford to offend. Together they made it plain: they intended to kill Ye Fan as one.
The bone-deep cold, the merciless killing intent — it all billowed outward at once. Twenty-three people stood side by side, like a host of death gods descended to earth, enough to change the color of every cultivator who witnessed it.
Ye Fan walked forward in indifference. He paused for a moment at the entrance of the thirty-third zone, then moved to the entrance of the thirty-sixth. The Daoist tradition spoke of different accounts — some of thirty-three heavens, others of thirty-six. He stood there for a long while, observing, and ultimately chose the thirty-sixth zone.
“You actually dare to enter the trial grounds?” The middle-aged Daoist nun laughed coldly.
“It doesn’t matter which zone you choose — the result will be the same. Pick yourself a decent grave.” Another mocked.
The two or three hundred remaining cultivators all stiffened, their eyes drawn here — some looking toward Ye Fan, others toward the middle-aged Daoist nun and her group. With twenty-three people acting in concert, this was unquestionably a fearsome threat, more than enough to cut down ancient saints with ease.
This was undeniable bullying. So many people working together to crush a single person — what kind of fight could that be? One could only call it a certain death.
“Having second thoughts? If I were you, I’d turn around and leave right now. Withdraw from the path of the greatest trial — and never come back.” Blue Maple said with cool detachment.
“Leaving is not an option. If you want to live, strip yourself of your dignity and give us a reason to show you mercy.” Red Willow smiled coldly.
“If you want to die — then all of you, come in.” That was all Ye Fan said. He didn’t spare them a single glance, and walked straight into the thirty-sixth zone.
Those words left every cultivator present in stunned silence. Truly unbending — would he actually fight over twenty people alone?
This would undoubtedly be the first harrowing trial of slaughter and blood in the trial grounds. Win or lose, the cultivator named Ye Fan was destined to be remembered.
“Commanding General — hasn’t this gone too far? Over twenty people surrounding one person — his chances of survival are slim. It hardly seems fair.” One of the soldiers spoke up. He had experienced these trials before and knew their cruelty all too well. All of them had walked this path of the greatest — how different could one truly be from another?
“We do not interfere.” The commanding general seated upon the great celestial wolf replied, his expression cold and indifferent.
Ye Fan walked into the thirty-sixth zone. Barely ten or so steps in, he stopped. He stood on a blue stone with his back to the entrance, still as a statue — like a war god made manifest.
“Hmm — having regrets? Pity. You can’t leave now. The only way out is death.” One of those who had rushed in eagerly let out a cold laugh.
“Silence!” Golden blood-energy surged from every inch of Ye Fan’s body. He spun around without warning. One fist shot out — a thunderous crash, blood exploding outward, bones flying in all directions, a red mist rising into the air.
One golden fist. The only thing in all of heaven and earth in that instant. In a single moment, it struck the one who had just spoken dead — killed on the spot, right where he stood.