It was a heart-shaped seed, dim and lustreless, its entire body a dull yellowish-brown. Though it held no divine radiance, a powerful surge of vitality emanated from it.

“What is this?” Long Ma stared at it with wide, expectant eyes.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon felt like weeping. This seed was absolutely extraordinary — it suspected it had formed from the nirvana of a divine herb, and it had once been within arm’s reach, yet now it might as well have been at the ends of the earth.

“The way I see it, this looks like the seed of an Immortal Medicine,” Long Ma’s large eyes spun rapidly, and then it suddenly lunged forward, chomping down with a loud crunch.

Crack!

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon winced, feeling a sympathetic ache in its own teeth as it looked on with a face full of pity. Several of Long Ma’s large teeth had been left with finger-shaped indentations — they had nearly snapped off.

“That hurt like hell!” Long Ma grimaced, baring its teeth.

It had tried to quietly snatch and swallow what it suspected was an Immortal Medicine seed, but biting down on Ye Fan’s fingers had failed to pry it away, and it had nearly broken its own teeth in the process.

“That actually belongs to me,” the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon said, unable to help swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

Ye Fan turned it over and over in his hand. He could feel a surging, vigorous life force — a genuine aura of an Immortal Divine Herb — which gave him a dreamlike, almost surreal feeling.

He found it hard to believe. How could the Demon Emperor have left behind a divine herb?

“It looks like a peach pit — no, more precisely, the kernel inside the pit,” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

He then carefully sensed it, examined it closely, and a strange light appeared in his eyes. He now knew what this was — it was truly connected to a certain Immortal Medicine.

He circulated his divine power. Rosy light bloomed in tens of thousands of streams from his palm, pouring into the seed. In an instant, the yellowish-brown seed shot forth wisps of immortal radiance, brilliant and dazzling beyond compare.

Ye Fan sensed a familiar aura — similar to the ancient Peach Tree he had seen at the Jade Pool — and said, “The Demon Emperor once consumed the Peach of Immortality.”

The true Peach of Immortality resided within the Life Forbidden Zone — the Divine Ruins. The ancient tree at the Jade Pool had been grown from one of its seeds.

No matter how attentively the Jade Pool tended it, expending endless Earth Marrow and divine fluids to cultivate it, it could never compare to the genuine Peach Immortal Medicine — it possessed only a fraction of the original’s efficacy.

For every Immortal Medicine was unique, unreplicable, never coexisting with another of its kind.

“This is the seed of the true Peach Divine Herb. Even though the Demon Emperor consumed the flesh and juice, the kernel left behind is still extraordinary beyond measure.” Long Ma could no longer sit still.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon was equally restless, its heart clawed by hundreds of anxious scratches. It was filled with bitter regret — it had occupied this cave dwelling for years, yet had somehow overlooked such a supreme treasure.

Ordinary apricot kernels and peach pits require processing before consumption. As for a seed this heaven-defying in nature, no one could say how to purge it of its harmful properties.

“Why don’t you try it?” Ye Fan glanced at Long Ma and laid out the risks and benefits.

Long Ma vigorously shook its head. What a joke — using it as a test subject? One wrong step and it could be reduced to dust. It was true that this seed contained the essence of immortality, but one would need to survive consuming it for that to matter.

“This shriveled little seed doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Why not let the crocodile dragon give it a taste?” Long Ma instigated, trying to get the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon to serve as the test subject.

“You almost broke your teeth off — weren’t you just dying to swallow it? I won’t fight you for it.” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon put on a simple, honest expression and magnanimously offered to yield it.

Long Ma shot it a sidelong glance and suppressed the urge to kick it.

The essence of immortal divinity resided in the flesh and juice. Compared to that, the value of this seed, though still staggeringly great, was not quite as heaven-defying.

“A pity. The Demon Emperor consumed the divine herb and left behind nothing but a pit. Truly inconsiderate,” Long Ma grumbled for a few moments.

The ancient jade pieces had branded themselves into its and the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon’s minds, bringing them tremendous gains — chief among them the Blood Replacement Secret Technique, which was supremely heaven-defying and could facilitate transformation toward dragonhood.

The nine ancient jade pieces were the greatest harvest for the two holy beasts, and would shape the path of their cultivation going forward.

BOOM!

In the distance, the sound of wind and thunder rolled in like divine drums beating, mingled with a gust of yellow wind that carried an aura of demonic, heaven-defying power.

“Hmm — what’s happening?”

Long Ma and the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon rushed out of the cave dwelling together. Ye Fan followed, gazing into the distance, where he could see many silhouettes streaking toward that direction.

“A world-shaking divine artifact has emerged. Let’s go take a look.”

The powerful fluctuations were extremely intense, originating from several thousand li away, where a group of cultivators were locked in battle that was spreading further and further outward.

“What happened?”

“A stone vessel fell from beyond the domain. Wind and thunder erupted, and many people are in pursuit.”

Listening to the people’s discussion, Ye Fan sensed something was wrong. He could not help looking up at the sky. Could it be that a great war had broken out in the stellar void?

“Could it be that a Sacred Spirit is leading its army in an attack?” Others also wore looks of dread.

Soon, word spread — a stone vessel from deep within the stellar void had been severed by a single sword strike from one of the Guiding Immortals of the Tenth City as it drew near to observe the human race’s stronghold, and had crashed down upon this ancient star.

As these hidden details circulated, many of the trial-takers grew tense. The great war was truly drawing near — the secret rumors they had heard before might soon become reality.

“There really is a Sacred Spirit? This is truly terrifying. To sever the ancient path of the human race, its power must have reached an incomprehensible extreme.”

An unsettling atmosphere permeated everything.

Even the trial-takers who had set foot upon the stellar ancient path — each bold and self-assured — changed color at the thought of facing a Sacred Spirit whose cultivation realm could drive one to despair.

Twenty thousand li away, a Beastly Saint King made its move, seizing the divine artifact from the stellar void — the stone vessel — and leaving behind a mutilated corpse that did not belong to any being of this ancient star.

Several days later, a mountain range one hundred thousand li away erupted into turmoil. Ancient beasts clashed, sacred might permeated the land, and rivers of blood flowed through that region.

When the human trial-takers arrived, they found that the ancient beasts that had formerly been somewhat friendly toward humans had all perished, while several ambitious and hostile ancient beasts had risen in their place.

Something felt deeply wrong. Though strife among ancient beasts was common, this level of ferocity was rare — vast numbers of powerful beings had died, and blood had dyed the land crimson.

“Could it be that forces from beyond the stellar void have gotten involved?” Those with keen instincts were uneasy.

If this had been merely a wisp of suspicion, then what happened next could only be described as a true shadow — a pall that settled over the hearts of many.

In the western region, a Beastly Saint King who had reigned over an entire domain for thousands of years after attaining the Dao was slain. The battle shook the heavens and split the earth, filling the air with the wails of ghosts and gods.

A Beastly Saint King was absolutely among the apex of powers on this ancient star — yet someone had cut it down. It had shared a degree of acquaintance with one of the Guiding Immortals of the Tenth City.

“I already feel a sense of ill omen…”

“The Sacred Spirit from deep within the stellar void is coming. All of this is merely the forerunning shadow.”

A wave of panic was spreading.

What manner of powerful existence had gathered in the stellar void, intent on severing the ancient path of the human race? This campaign, once launched, would be absolutely world-shattering.

In the span of these few days, various rumors circulated. Word spread that a great Sacred Spirit had been born in the depths of the universe — its blood aura splitting the cosmos, its gaze shattering the vast sky, its power elevated to an unimaginable extreme.

The Tenth City was merely one battlefield. It intended to sweep across the entire star domain.

The trial-takers were strengthening themselves, while the Guiding Immortals were mobilizing, seeking reinforcements from deeper along the ancient path and consulting with the Beastly Saint Kings and others on this living star.

Yet what followed only deepened the sense of crisis. Ancient beasts began to mobilize and launch large-scale massacres against the human trial-takers.

People believed that forces from beyond had infiltrated the domain, allying with certain ancient beasts. The ominous clouds of an earth-shattering war were drawing ever closer.

Many were growing restless. Numerous cultivators who had come this far had long since understood that attaining the Dao was beyond their reach — what they harbored was merely the hope of becoming a Saint King or the like. And now, with events taking this turn, some wished they could return to their homeland at once.

Dark clouds gathered, and unwelcome news kept arriving.

Several days later, a powerhouse among the trial-takers — one of considerable origin, astounding cultivation, and someone who had withstood dozens of exchanges against the Great Demon God — was slain, and blood rain dyed that mountain range crimson.

Though this person had not advanced a single step since that battle decades ago, remaining stranded here rather than pressing onward, people had believed that once he overcame the barrier in his heart, his power would advance by leaps and bounds.

A mighty seed-level figure was dead — a Saint who had once contested with the Great Demon God of twenty-some years past, slaughtered just like that. Naturally, this triggered a great uproar.

Many feared for their own lives, for in these past few days, several powerful trial-takers had met with accidents and died unnatural deaths — this was far too abnormal.

Many cultivators returned to the Tenth City, awaiting the arrival of a violent storm.

Four days later, an even more shocking piece of news arrived: a human ancient fortress deep along the stellar ancient path had been assaulted and destroyed, every person within the entire holy city had perished, and even the Guiding Immortals had been killed in battle.

This was horrifying — it shook everyone to their core.

That stretch of the stellar ancient path had been severed, cutting off connection to the road ahead and behind alike.

Like a hurricane sweeping in, the news sent hearts into a frenzy. The oppressive shadow of impending war made it hard to breathe — even worse than anyone had imagined.

“The stellar ancient path has been cut off. Can we still move forward? Most likely there is no road ahead.”

“What manner of Sacred Spirit is this, to strike at the entire ancient path of the human race?!”

The many cultivators retreating to the Tenth City all wore expressions of dread, uncertain what they would face next. Many others had not returned, fearing the Tenth City would suffer the same fate — being struck first, smashed to pieces.

Two days later, another report arrived — whether true or not, none could say — that allegedly yet another stretch of the stellar ancient path had been severed, that expanse of stellar void stained red with blood.

A shadow of gloom settled over everyone’s hearts. Could they still walk this road? Such a thing had rarely occurred since ancient times.

Were they, this generation of trial-takers, to be denied the road ahead? Or had the stellar ancient path reached its final age, soon to be severed forever?

Amid this suffocating atmosphere, Ye Fan’s heart too was heavy. But worry was useless — what mattered most now was strengthening himself. In this crisis, who could say how many people would perish.

“This Peach seed cannot be consumed — the immortal divine essence and fragments of the Great Dao contained within are naturally out of reach. But I can still refine the powerful life force within it,” Ye Fan murmured.

Whether it was him, Long Ma, or the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon, all deeply lamented this. The immortal divine essence and Dao fragments were the most precious aspects of an Immortal Medicine.

Yet the life force within the Peach seed was sufficiently powerful — a rarity in the world.

What Ye Fan needed was opposing forces to break through his barrier. Now that he had the life force, he naturally needed the power of death.

Long Ma harbored serious doubts and little faith in the divine technique Ye Fan had created, and had warned him multiple times not to act recklessly.

In the end, the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon thought of a place it believed contained surging death energy, something that might aid his cultivation, and led the way.

“You need not worry. With two opposing forces, I should be able to break through my barrier and grow stronger.” Ye Fan was supremely confident in the Dao path he had pioneered himself.

The entire ancient path was now shrouded in ill omens. He needed to elevate his strength as much as possible.