When Ye Fan moved, he was like a great roc spreading its wings, soaring ninety thousand miles into the sky; when still, he was like the depths of the sea — carrying an invincible presence, looking down upon the world with contempt. He tossed the two severed halves of the golden serpent body onto the ground, utterly unafraid that his enemy would flee, gazing coldly down at him.
The Golden Serpent Second Young Lord’s ten-foot serpent body lay broken in two, golden blood spraying high into the air. His heart was filled with despair — he had unleashed several of his most powerful ancient techniques, only to suffer complete defeat, unable to contend with this formidable enemy.
“I refuse to accept this!” He had no wish to become just another pile of bones along the Emperor’s Road. Since his debut he had marched forward invincible, considering himself among the strongest few of the younger generation under heaven — yet today he had suffered such a crushing defeat.
Whoosh!
The two severed sections of his body merged back together, reforming into a single golden serpent form, his golden spine rattling loudly as the Tengshe Evil Sword appeared once more, dazzling and resplendent.
Stained now with his own life-blood, its power had grown immensely — this was to be his final, desperate strike. Ye Fan’s manifested form appeared, the dragon-like curve at its center, wrapped in a golden circular halo, blood energy surging skyward with a boom, reaching its strongest state.
“Clang!”
He met the sword with his fists, striking dozens of consecutive blows, making the Tengshe Evil Sword tremble violently. After the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist emerged, a hundred golden punches rained down, and finally, with a boom, the blade itself burst apart, shattering into fragments.
At that same moment, a sea of blood reaching to the heavens and an endless expanse of bones surfaced, as though they had arrived in some terrifying foreign realm — so abrupt and jarring that it made everyone shudder.
This was the blood and bone left behind when the Tengshe Evil Sword had devoured a million living beings, nurturing an evil embryo to become a supreme sacred weapon. Though not physical in substance, it appeared vividly lifelike.
The Tengshe Evil Sword had swallowed the blood of a great sage, and was built upon the foundation of a million living beings, using the divine blood of the entire divine ape clan as its spirit — it had very nearly become a Great Sage-grade weapon, and yet it had still been destroyed, shattered beneath Ye Fan’s fist.
This strike shattered every last shred of confidence the Golden Serpent Second Young Lord possessed, as though he had stepped off the edge of a towering peak and plunged into a dark abyss, his entire body turning to ice.
“Why hasn’t Ye Fan killed him yet? We don’t want any last-minute surprises — one should never show mercy to an enemy, but strike decisively and ruthlessly,” Scorpion Saint said.
Pang Bo replied, “Because there are still three more serpents. Ye Fan wants to get a clear picture of this clan’s full strength — in the future, we might encounter an even more terrifying old serpent.”
At the very last moment, the Golden Serpent Second Young Lord’s face suddenly twisted with a savage expression, casting aside all despondency. Divine radiance burst from between his brows, and a corner of an ancient formation diagram flew out, radiating the aura of the great Dao, as though capable of suppressing the nine heavens and ten earths, divine power surging wildly.
This was a mysterious ancient artifact of the Tengshe clan — years ago, the four brothers had used it together to fight against a great sage, forcing the Gray Flood Beast Venerable into dire peril, nearly meeting its end.
“Even if I cannot defeat you, I can still cut you down!” the Golden Serpent Second Young Lord roared, his eyes turning grim and merciless. This peerless enemy had driven him to despair; since he could not withstand him, he would simply destroy everything. This was his final, desperate resolve — to see Ye Fan annihilated in both body and spirit.
Though the corner of the divine diagram remained sealed, it could still unleash a portion of its power. Ripple-like waves of light spread outward, as devastating as though gods and buddhas alike would fall before it.
The void shattered inch by inch!
“Clang!”
Suddenly, green light blazed before Ye Fan. He drew out the damaged Green Cauldron, holding it before him, and when the spreading light waves reached him, it blocked them entirely.
Long Ma and the others were shaken — the Tengshe clan truly was formidable, forcing Ye Fan to bring out this great killing weapon, something that had not happened in many years!
The Green Bronze Cauldron was mysterious and unfathomable, the sole divine artifact remaining in the world from the ancient Heavenly Court. It did not initiate attacks; its purpose was purely defensive.
“What is this? The ancient Heavenly Court…” the Golden Serpent Second Young Lord cried out in alarm, his face filled with shock.
Ye Fan advanced with the Green Cauldron in hand, and the light waves could not approach him — instead they struck the Golden Serpent Second Young Lord and the divine diagram, and with a boom, the corner of the ancient formation diagram blazed with dazzling brilliance, tearing through the void and shooting up into the sky, escaping.
“My Tengshe lineage’s ancestral artifact has actually flown away…” the Golden Serpent Second Young Lord cried out in horror.
Tens of thousands of miles away, in a vast wilderness where ancient trees reached toward the heavens and apes howled and tigers roared, the other three Golden Serpent Young Lords each had a corner of the formation diagram appear above their heads, currently circulating the Golden Serpent Heavenly Technique, hoping to locate the Second Young Lord through the resonance between the diagram fragments.
Suddenly, brilliant light blazed at the edge of the sky, and a dazzling divine rainbow descended from above — a corner of the ancient formation diagram fell, merging with the ancestral artifacts held by the three of them, forming a complete, unbroken ancient diagram.
Upon it were all manner of images — above, deities; below, birds and beasts. At its center, myriad spirits surrounded a serpent that had ascended to godhood, a sight that shook the world, for it opened its mouth as though capable of swallowing entire stars whole.
“Second Brother’s fate looks grim,” the Golden Serpent Eldest Young Lord sighed softly, two beams of dazzling divine light shooting from his eyes as he gazed toward the horizon, expression icy and severe.
“Second Brother’s life is likely at its end — he may already be gone from this world. Was it the human Sage Body’s doing? I will kill him!” the Golden Serpent Third Young Lord roared in fury. Of the four brothers, he had the fiercest temper, prone to killing at the slightest provocation, having left mountains of corpses in his wake, a sea of blood rising behind him toward the high heavens.
“Human Sage Body — I will torture you to death by the most brutal means possible. What a shame Second Brother never finished mastering that peerless technique, ‘Tengshe Becomes God’ — had he done so, who could have contended with him?”
“You two, finish mastering Tengshe Becomes God. We will find every possible means to eliminate the human Sage Body,” the Golden Serpent Eldest Young Lord said, his expression growing ever darker.
“Of course we must eliminate him — I want to devour his golden flesh and blood piece by piece!”
…
Amid the ruined mountains and broken ridges, a scene of utter devastation, the battle had ended. Ye Fan pointed a finger at the Golden Serpent Second Young Lord’s forehead, blood spraying as a massive serpent corpse appeared on the ground.
No longer a mere ten feet long, its true form stretched a full thousand feet, lying across the mountain range, its body entirely golden and resplendent, scales one to two meters long gleaming with metallic light.
Cool moonlight spilled down as fires blazed within the mountains. Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Long Ma, the Golden Lion, and the others sat gathered together, golden and glistening pieces of jerky hanging over the bonfire.
Beside the fire sat jar after jar of fine wine, their fragrance carrying far into the night air. They ate heartily and drank deeply.
“First time in this life I’ve eaten Tengshe meat — honestly, the taste isn’t much. Tough, hard to chew,” Long Ma remarked.
“You shouldn’t be eating meat,” Scorpion Saint said.
“This one is no vegetarian — lion’s mane, bear paw, dragon liver, phoenix marrow, I love them all,” Long Ma said, taking a swig from a jar of wine, speaking carelessly.
At once, several murderous glares shot his way — the Golden Lion, Black Bear Saint, Nine-tailed Crocodile Dragon, Azure Luan, and others all glared at him.
Alas, poor Golden Serpent Second Young Lord — once a peerless genius of his generation, now killed and roasted over a bonfire, reduced to another’s dinner. If word got out, no one would believe it.
“You shouldn’t roast a snake — it should be made into serpent soup, stewed properly. Come, Ye Fan, bring over the cauldron, and pour in some of the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring essence from the age of myth to cook the Tengshe,” Pang Bo said.
Black Bear Saint raised a pair of bear-like paws in agreement. “Excellent idea — that will surely be rich and flavorful! I’ll go find a few medicinal herbs to use as seasoning. Look at all these mountains and valleys, ancient peaks everywhere — there’s bound to be some rare herb tens of thousands of years old, perfect for the stew.”
This could only be described as extravagance beyond measure — the Mother-Qi of All Things drizzled down in threads, upon which the Kunpeng, Vermillion Bird, and other chaotic deities appeared vividly lifelike, now reduced to mere decoration.
Threads of chaotic energy curled around the cauldron’s mouth — how many such divine treasures could be found in this world? And now it had truly been put to a lesser use, becoming a cooking vessel for a group of food lovers.
Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the others channeled their divine power, breathing fire from between their fingers to heat the cauldron from below, steaming and boiling with divine flame.
Within the cauldron, chaos swirled hazily as the Ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring essence bubbled and surged, golden Tengshe meat rising and sinking within it. Long Ma, the Golden Lion, and others tossed in a few ancient herbs, while Scorpion Saint added several ancient vine roots, and the fragrance filled the air.
There was the aroma of meat, the fresh scent of the Life Spring, and the fragrance of medicinal herbs — such a pot of soup could hardly be surpassed, before or since. Rare Tengshe meat, cooked in the Mother-Qi of All Things Cauldron, simmered in a Celestial Venerable’s divine essence — how many chances would anyone in this world ever get to taste such a thing?
“To enjoy such a meal even once in life is enough,” Nine-tailed Crocodile Dragon sighed at length. This was simply too extravagant — he felt that partaking in such a feast might invite heaven’s wrath, as though it weren’t quite real.
Everyone ate to their heart’s content, and in the end even drank the broth dry — after all, it was divine essence, each drop capable of raising the dead and regrowing flesh on bone, leaving the whole group brimming with vigor, their bodies practically ready to burst with energy.
“Even though it looks like just this one cauldron of divine essence, the Ancient Celestial Venerable’s body had been mysteriously enlarged — if converted back to normal human proportions, this entire cauldron of Life Spring essence wouldn’t even amount to a single drop,” Long Ma said.
This was true, and it fell far short of what a single true drop of the Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring essence would actually be. Otherwise, this would be the most defiant, heaven-flouting treasure in existence — an ancient Emperor’s Life Spring essence, who could ever hope to obtain it?
At dawn, mist drifted through the air, carrying a damp scent, morning dew sparkling with five-colored light in the early rays of sunlight.
Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Long Ma, and the others left the mountains, heading out across the vast land, marching toward cities where living beings dwelled. In truth, they had already encountered some strange creatures within the mountains, though most possessed little in the way of advanced cultivation, and they understood little of this vast world as a whole.
“Boom,” “Boom”…
Suddenly, a great sound echoed out.
They were startled, for a towering figure gradually appeared on the horizon, fully a hundred feet tall, resembling a mountain peak, mighty and imposing.
It was a giant ape, wide-mouthed with protruding fangs, its body covered in yellow fur that gleamed with a faint golden sheen. It carried a stone club over its shoulder, from which hung a strange creature dozens of feet long — clearly its prey.
“Aren’t the creatures in this world a bit too large?”
“Hmm, though it’s huge, its actual strength isn’t all that terrifying — around the Dragon Transformation secret realm level, but a body of that size is certainly rare among its kind.”
“I’ll go ask it about the situation on this star.”
Long Ma rose up and approached the giant ape, using divine sense transmission to question it.
The giant ape clearly sensed the newcomer’s power, and despite Long Ma’s small stature, it did not look down on him — it answered every question, remarkably cooperative, far beyond what any of them had expected.
This was an ancient birthplace of life, it said, called the “Far Shore,” home to a group of extraordinarily powerful beings — the giant ape itself was merely among the lowest tier of creatures here.
It pointed with its stone club toward the distance, saying there were walled cities out there, bustling metropolises, home to all manner of races coming and going.
“So, it really is the Far Shore.” Everyone exchanged glances.
According to the giant ape, this world truly did have gods — only it could not get close to them itself, for its rank was insufficient to pay them homage.
This astonishing news left them all stirred, sensing that this ancient star might well harbor beings of terrifying power.
“Have you ever heard of the ancient coffin from the age of myth?” Long Ma continued to ask.
“Of course I’ve heard of it — a stone coffin, nine layers in all, descended upon this land decades ago. Everyone knows of it.” The giant ape’s answer left them stunned. They had assumed it would be an extremely closely guarded secret, requiring great effort to uncover — yet here, it seemed everyone already knew!
“Where is it?”
“Naturally, in the Immortal Domain,” the giant ape said.
“What — the Immortal Domain? Does such a place really exist in this world?!” Everyone was stunned.
“Wait, slow down — where is the Immortal Domain, what kind of place is it?” Ye Fan asked earnestly.
“The Immortal Domain is the dwelling place of the gods, the homeland of eternal life — it lies in that direction.” The giant ape pointed again with its massive club, indicating a direction.
Everyone fell silent. This giant ape had, once again, answered without hesitation — truly there seemed to be no mystery it could not resolve.
“Do you know of the Tree of Life?” Long Ma asked. He had never met the Ji family siblings and thus felt no particular attachment to them; he had little interest in the nine-layered coffin of the mythic age, and only wished to learn about the Tree of Life.
“Of course I know it,” the giant ape nodded, honest and simple.
“How do you know everything?!”