Pang Bo’s greatest fortune had been obtaining the Green Emperor’s Divine Cache in the Eternal Star Region. Aside from a few handwritten notes, the most astonishing item was a jar of evolutionary divine liquid whose grade was impossible to determine.
Each time he consumed it, he almost always had to endure a tribulation crossing; its powerful effect frightened even him. Over the years he had continually restrained himself, not daring to consume it excessively.
This was because the Green Emperor had left behind writings, solemnly warning descendants not to rely on it too heavily. If one wished to consume it, one had to solidify one’s Dao foundation each time first, or there would be great trouble.
Precisely because of this, Pang Bo had not advanced by leaps and bounds over the years. He had lived a life harsher than any ascetic cultivator, punishing his own body year after year, tempering himself, nearly forging himself into a god-demon physique.
Though he restrained himself greatly, his cultivation level compared to ordinary people was still considered rapid progress. He was not very far from the Sage King realm — he could break through if he wished.
Ye Fan was stunned to hear this. He knew the evolutionary liquid had nine grades, but the later grades should not possibly exist — the highest grade to appear in the past fifty or sixty thousand years had been only the sixth-grade treasured liquid.
The divine liquid the Green Emperor left behind truly seemed heaven-defying, its grade impossible to assess. But thinking about it, it made sense — that was, after all, the only Demon Emperor to have attained the Dao since ancient times!
“Won’t there be side effects?” Ye Fan felt somewhat worried, afraid Pang Bo relying on the divine liquid to build his Dao might leave hidden troubles affecting his future achievements.
“That’s not really an issue.” Pang Bo shook his head.
Over the years, he had strictly followed a demonic body-refining technique left behind by the Green Emperor, extremely harsh on himself. This was a forbidden secret technique, nearly self-torture — treating himself like a piece of metal, tempered a thousand times in a great furnace, ceaselessly exchanging his blood, washing and refining his organs and bones.
“Over the decades, I’ve shed my skin six or seven times, casting off quite a bit of old skin and broken bone.” Pang Bo said indifferently.
Ye Fan felt his hair stand on end hearing this — what a cruel method! Others advanced step by step in order, but this ancient method was too fierce and overbearing. Directly shedding skin, squeezing out bone fragments from within the body — such a process was too violent, liable at any moment to gravely injure one’s vitality and ruin a person entirely.
One could imagine what suffering the carefree Pang Bo had endured over all these years, his time on the starry path spent almost entirely on ascetic cultivation, rarely fighting others but constantly battling himself.
“After all this experience over the years, I can’t say much for other things, but this divine liquid is absolutely heaven-defying before the Sage King realm. Whether it’ll still be effective afterward is hard to say.”
Pang Bo indicated that in a short time he could induce a heavenly tribulation, crossing it together with Ye Fan inside and out, forcefully breaking open the passage of the ancient mausoleum.
Though separated by the great tomb, Ye Fan could still see his form through the crystal wall at the entrance — truly imposing, gigantic, his arms thicker than others’ thighs, gleaming with an ancient bronze luster.
“Not to boast, but if it really came to a fight of the same rank, my physique might not be weaker than the Overlord’s — I might just be able to strangle him to death.” Pang Bo said, his black hair like a waterfall, his eyes like golden lamps, waving his arm, his flesh alone pressing the void into a humming tremor.
“Not bad at all.” Ye Fan nodded, showing a hint of a smile.
Back in school, Pang Bo had looked delicate and refined, but his physique was strong and powerful, called a savage on the football field. Only Pang Bo had been strong enough to collide with him. Who would have thought that now, so many years later, he was still just as impressive.
Ye Fan told him to adjust his physical state as quickly as possible; if he could cross the Sage King tribulation at the critical moment, that would be best.
Pang Bo nodded, saying: “These past years trapped in the ancient mausoleum, I’ve kept restraining myself, afraid that crossing tribulation in the tomb might cause great trouble. Now my Dao foundation and physical body are solid enough — this is a good time to break out.”
After some time, Ye Fan left, and this ancient continent returned to quiet. With so many cultivators now shaken by the Yellow Springs, few came to this continent anymore.
But half a day later, several figures flew in from afar, gazing at the mountains and rivers, examining this continent floating in the universe.
If Ye Fan had been present, he would surely have recognized that the two leading figures were none other than the Qilin Sacred Envoy and the Vermilion Bird Sacred Envoy — their purpose quite clear, hoping to find traces of Ye Fan.
“Whoever wants to kill the Sacred Body will surely come here eventually. Perhaps waiting quietly here is the best choice.”
“Our Lord hasn’t made his position clear on whether to kill the Sacred Body from Zangdi Star. This time we turned back because the ancient Great Emperor’s mausoleum has cracked open, and immortal treasures will soon emerge.”
“No need to be deliberate about it. Once he appears to rescue Pang Bo, we only need to strike at the critical moment, and it might well be enough to plunge him into eternal ruin.”
Not long after, they left.
But before too long, more people arrived, even more secretive, cold eyes flickering with grim light, exploring here.
The mountains fell silent, all creatures lay dormant, and a somewhat oppressive air hung over this ancient continent. In the following days, mysterious powerful figures came from time to time, watching in the dark.
Even trapped in the tomb, Pang Bo sensed something amiss, aware that someone was investigating this place. Even without Ye Fan’s advance warning, he could tell from these signs that things were not looking good.
“Could it be that the Great Demon God, Ditian, Fairy Qingshi, the Goddess, the Human King, and other young supremes deep on the Ancient Road have all come? That seems unlikely. But I sense a trace of a Sacred Spirit’s aura, and also the aging aura of some ancient Human Race elder.”
Pang Bo’s heart sank. He had once heard Ye Fan roughly describe his experiences — the bloody battle with the Stone Men, incurring a great feud with that race. Could it be that they would come one after another to seek him out now?
Meanwhile, Ye Fan had also come by, learning of this situation from Pang Bo, a cold smile flickering at the corner of his mouth.
“No rush. Adjust your own state, and meet all changes with constancy. I heard from Long Ma that they’ll soon force open the Great Emperor’s true burial chamber — that secret realm has stirred the hearts of many.”
Two days later, Xu City boiled with excitement. Great Sage-level figures set out, ready to break open the void from which the Yellow Springs hung down, advancing into the secret realm left by the ancient Great Emperor to witness the Emperor’s corpse.
Not only Xu City, but the entire Ancient Road was shaken. Many powerful figures rushed over, guide envoys from various cities set out on the road, and numerous sages descended.
Group after group of armies entered Xu Ruins, war chariots rumbling, great banners fluttering, savage beasts roaring, trampling through the vast sky.
A yellow river hung across the cold starry sky, descending from a place of nothingness, releasing an aura of death that made every approaching being’s heart shudder.
On this day, armies from all sides arrived, reaching the far bank of the Yellow Springs, camps clearly divided.
A group of soldiers covered in black armor drew particular attention — thirty or fifty men wouldn’t have been suspicious, but this camp of several hundred exuded an intense aura of death that was hard to comprehend.
They stood in perfect formation, lacking any sign of life, and in the very center was a bronze coffin, seemingly unopened for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, covered in rust, releasing a trembling wave of energy.
“The legendary lineage… they’re still around, vanished for endless ages, yet formally appearing today!” a few elder-generation figures were shocked upon deducing the truth.
“Could it be that the Underworld truly exists in this world, the final destination of all sages after death?!” another old man said, his voice trembling.
The appearance of this group of strange people caused an uproar. A few hundred people wasn’t that many, but each of them was like a death god, utterly lacking any sign of life, making it impossible not to feel a chill — no one knew who commanded them.
In the Age of Myth, most powerful figures, before sitting in final meditation, chose to transcend into the Dao — a serious consideration to avoid falling into the Underworld.
The Underworld was an extremely ancient organization. Most people today didn’t believe it had ever existed, though it had once flourished during the era ruled by the ancient Celestial Court.
Even before the army had marched on the ancient Great Emperor’s mausoleum, this place was already in an uproar — the Underworld’s appearance made everyone feel as if transported back to the Age of Myth, almost unbelievable.
Suddenly, the starry river trembled, the universe warped, and a figure appeared — of medium height, with a divine might that seemed to swallow the sun and moon, radiating an incredibly powerful life essence!
Everyone froze. This was a peerless expert; no one needed to say it — everyone knew this person was extraordinary, surely at the pinnacle of the Great Sage realm, perhaps even about to take a half step beyond.
He did not appear aged, his hair thick and black, his face ruddy, his forehead glowing, looking no more than forty or fifty years old, carrying a restrained, majestic life essence.
Far away, Ye Fan’s eyes narrowed — he saw a mark on this man’s sleeve, very familiar. It belonged to “Shen” (God).
In the Eternal Star Region, Ye Fan had encountered this terrifying organization, self-styled as gods, killing experts on the starry Ancient Road.
“A peerless expert from the Shen Organization! Since ancient times, this lineage has always ambushed cultivators on the Ancient Road, seizing all manner of secret techniques to strengthen themselves!”
“Decades ago, the Dao Protectors launched a great purge, dealing them heavy losses — why have they appeared again now?”
People gasped, many cultivators uneasy.
This was an organization that dared to run rampant on the Ancient Road, impossible to call good or evil, ancient and eternal, absolutely powerful, never destroyed — enough to demonstrate their formidable nature.
“This person… is one of their Divine Lords!”
This man was so powerful he made people tremble, his life essence reaching the peak of the Great Sage realm, perhaps even able to take a half step further — a supreme Divine Lord, making even the Dao Protectors’ expressions grow solemn.
Boom!
The void trembled and warped, and above his head appeared a bronze tripod, three legs and two ears, hanging down wisps of innate divine essence, ancient and grand.
Ye Fan’s heart stirred in surprise — this was the same type as his own weapon, even bearing images of ancient primordial peoples, the Kunpeng, true dragons, somewhat similar.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, this man struck. The great tripod released vast waves, shaking the cold starry sky and cracking it apart, carrying the will of the great universe, its divine might overwhelming, pressing forward in suppression.
Everyone’s hearts trembled; even the Human Race’s Dao Protectors changed expression!
However, what surprised people deeply was that his target of attack was not the Human Race’s cultivators on the Ancient Road, but the bronze coffin belonging to the Underworld.
“Clang!”
That green-rusted bronze coffin, its lid suddenly trembling, shot skyward, colliding violently with the bronze tripod, shattering sun, moon, and starry river, erupting with world-ending divine power!
Even though separated by a considerable distance, and even with the Human Race’s Dao Protectors acting to suppress it, many were still knocked flying like straw men tossed into the air, shaken by the aftershock until bloodied.
People were terrified, unable to imagine — had the Dao Protectors not acted, the great heroes present might have had their bodies destroyed by the aftershock.
The bronze tripod flew back, hovering above the peerless Divine Lord’s head. His gaze was deep, and he said not a single word.
The coffin lid also fell back down, the bronze coffin sealing perfectly, without a ripple. The Underworld side gave no further extra reaction either.
Shen’s sudden attack on the Underworld ended quickly, leaving the crowd stunned, somewhat at a loss.
The starry sky calmed, as if nothing had happened. People exchanged glances, and then suddenly noticed that several more great camps had arrived, all supremely powerful.
That stone chariot over a meter long — many had seen it before — pulled by a dragon and a tiger, carrying an incredibly powerful Stone Man Sacred Spirit, ruling over all beneath heaven.
On the other side, a group of ox-headed men appeared, their entire bodies covered in dense black fur a foot long, each over ten feet tall, led by a Great Sage.
Ye Fan was speechless with astonishment — this was a group of… Ox Demon Kings! From the Mighty Ox Demon race, but definitely not visitors from the Big Dipper — rather, powerful figures from that race’s ancestral star.
What puzzled him most was that the Great Sage leading them held a gleaming divine jade wheel, radiant all over, its divine power astonishing — it was precisely the Vajra Wheel.
Ye Fan felt uncertain — could this be Laozi’s ox? He had once seen the brand mark that ox had left behind two thousand years ago in the ancient Ziwei Star Region — it really looked similar!