The Divine King Ji Haoyue now sported a black eye like a panda’s, and when Long Ma’s outrageous words reached him, his sword-like brows shot straight up and he fixed the creature with a relentless stare.
Ye Fan felt genuinely awkward. It truly was a reunion after a hundred years — and the very first thing that happened was that he had landed a hit on Ji Haoyue. There was no good way to explain that. But it wasn’t as if he could be blamed entirely either: the Divine King had come charging at him with full force the moment they met, and without putting in some real effort, there would have been no resolving it.
“Brother Haoyue, I trust you’ve been well?” Pang Bo stepped in to smooth things over, laughing heartily as he came forward.
Ji Haoyue was not exactly cold and rigid by nature — but as his cultivation grew stronger, a natural authority had developed around him, and he had gradually become someone who rarely smiled. This was also why Ji Ziyue rebelled against him and was always trying to get the upper hand over him.
“A hundred years apart, and you’ve truly become a full-blown great demon,” Ji Haoyue said, nodding at Pang Bo.
Pang Bo felt a little awkward himself. Speaking of constitution, he really was half-human and half-demon. His blood carried the inherited divine bloodline of an ancient demon clan — which had suddenly awakened during their time in the Northern Dipper, bringing him fragments of the demon clan’s Dao lineage from within his own bloodline.
Now he carried both a human bloodline and the characteristics of a demon clan. In particular, the Dao fragments in his blood were day by day transforming him further toward a great demon.
“You must be the Divine King. Truly imposing and heroic — I feel an instant connection with you, as if we are old friends. We are clearly kindred spirits.” Long Ma moved forward to make its acquaintance.
Ji Haoyue was not without flexibility — he nodded at this shameless creature. It was only toward Ye Fan that he had no welcoming expression, and he looked as if he rather wanted to fight another round.
“Brother…” Ji Ziyue drew out the word in a long, soft call, swaying her brother’s arm, her voice so sweet it was almost cloying.
“Very well — let us consider what’s past as past.” Ji Haoyue glanced at Ye Fan and said those words.
He then turned to face Ji Ziyue. “You actually ambushed me and knocked your own brother unconscious. You’ve become more and more capable.”
Ji Ziyue pressed her lips together in a suppressed smile. “I’ll pay more attention next time — I won’t be so aggressive.”
“There’s going to be a next time?” Ji Haoyue’s forehead was lined with exasperation. Faced with this unpredictable, impossible-to-manage little sister, he was at a complete loss. He couldn’t hit her, couldn’t scold her — all he had done was keep too close a watch on her, and now she was pushing back with a vengeance.
“Is it wrong for me to occasionally prove that I can suppress you?” Ji Ziyue muttered under her breath.
“Yes, it is!”
“Then I’m going to do it anyway!”
Everyone present secretly dissolved into laughter. These two siblings were genuinely and endlessly entertaining — one insisting on maintaining his dignity as the older brother, the other refusing to surrender for even a moment.
“Brother Haoyue…” Ye Fan gave a small cough and spoke up. This was not a place to linger — Great Saints would likely appear before long. He suggested they leave first.
Half an hour later, they arrived at a place of quiet stillness. The peaks were not tall. A clear spring cascaded down, forming a silver waterfall veiled in wisps of mist.
The surroundings were dotted with lakes, the trees lush and flourishing — a rare sanctuary of peace, well suited for contemplation and cultivation.
After so many years, Ji Haoyue carried himself with an air of dignity and elegance that surpassed his former self. The black eye was a slight imperfection — though he had made no effort to dismiss it.
“Now, truly, you have become a force to be reckoned with. How many peers in all the world can stand against you?” Ji Haoyue asked.
“Hard to say.” Ye Fan answered with complete honesty.
He carried an invincible conviction — but the universe was vast. Who could truly claim to stand without equal? The Golden Serpent Elder, Sang Gu — battles with them could serve as measurements. But what of the countless unknown figures beyond?
“Hmm. The Phoenix Void Dao practitioner, the Sacred Prince, the Silkworm Dao practitioner, Huo Qizi… their bloodline power stands supreme in the world. It truly is hard to say,” Pang Bo remarked.
“I wonder what has become of the Sacred Prince — where has he gone.” Ye Fan said to himself. He remembered clearly that the monkey had also spoken of setting out on the path — but likely not by the human race’s Ancient Path. Knowing his temperament, he had probably cut his way straight into the depths of the star field, no doubt turning some other Ancient Path completely upside down.
Mention of old acquaintances naturally brought up Ji Zi — which made the Ji siblings feel rather peculiar. What exactly was the nature of that connection?
Ye Fan and Ji Zi called each other brothers, and yet Ye Fan and the Ji siblings now had this kind of relationship — it really was a tangled mess of a situation, and no one could quite work out how everyone would address each other when they all eventually met.
“In terms of bloodline, the Heavenly Prince stands foremost — he can rightly be called first in all the world. Truly without equal. His bone structure and blood are the closest of any living being to divine,” Ji Haoyue said.
He had seen the Heavenly Prince back in the Northern Dipper, and had felt firsthand that incomparable bloodline. He turned to ask Ye Fan — how was that person now?
“I killed him,” Ye Fan said.
“What — you killed the Heavenly Prince?” The Ji siblings were utterly stunned.
When they had left, the ancient clans were at their most powerful, and the Heavenly Prince had been at his zenith — there was a sense that he was becoming a second Undying Heavenly Emperor. At the rate he had been developing, he would inevitably have commanded the entire world.
“Ji Zi, the Sacred Prince, and I fought the Eight Divine Generals, faced off against Huo Qizi and the others, and in the end I took the Heavenly Prince’s head and killed him on the spot.” Ye Fan said calmly.
He recounted in detail what had taken place. Several ancient imperial princes had been involved at the time — the Phoenix Void practitioner, Huo Qizi, and Huo Lin’er had all participated. It had been an extraordinarily brutal and difficult battle.
“A blood-stirring battle — and I wasn’t there for it.” Pang Bo said with a sigh. By then he, like Ji Haoyue, had already set out on the Ancient Stellar Path.
“So the Heavenly Prince died just like that — and he was a child of the Undying Heavenly Emperor.” Ji Haoyue seemed to reflect on it with a measure of feeling.
Hearing him say it that way, Ye Fan thought of that terrifying stone carving — the Undying Heavenly Blade pinning the heavens above, with the boundless primordial chaos cascading down beneath it. And below that, a stone egg. What would become of it?
“Even the most extraordinary constitution in the world does not guarantee the last laugh. And in a grand era such as this one, whether the Heavenly Prince truly possessed the world’s finest bloodline is not easy to say.” Ye Fan said — because certain legends had entered his mind.
Had the Venerable Emperor left any descendants? Would the Chaos Constitution truly come into the world? Would constitutions like the Innate Holy Body Dao Embryo appear? Would a supreme being be born among the divine races?
If it was a grand era, naturally one had to consider all the most powerful bloodlines throughout history. If all of them appeared at once — that would truly be terrifying, and it would be very difficult to say who was weaker than whom.
No constitution is invincible — only the person and the heart can be. When their discussion finally reached its conclusion, they all found themselves in agreement with this sentiment. Most Great Emperors throughout history had possessed ordinary constitutions — and yet in the end they had defeated all who stood against them.
In this era, too, it was impossible to say. Perhaps in the end it would be someone of ordinary constitution who climbed to the very peak — fighting through blood and carnage all the way to the absolute pinnacle. That was not out of the question.
“Watching the Golden Grand Era arrive — how many heroes buried in distant lands, how many gifted prodigies fallen on the path to Emperorhood. I have a feeling that the battle at the very end will surpass what anyone can anticipate,” Ji Ziyue said.
Before long, a disturbance came from the distance. The Divine Race Celestial Maiden appeared, somehow having tracked them to this place — her beauty nothing short of breathtaking.
“Beautiful woman — aren’t you afraid of coming here alone and never finding your way back?” Pang Bo called out with a loud laugh.
Xin Lan was extraordinarily powerful. As one of the Divine Race, she was rarely matched in the world, and had earned herself the name of a divine maiden on the human race’s Ancient Path. Her expression was serene. She did not draw near, and simply said, “I have no hostile intentions. I only wish to meet the human race’s Divine King.”
“That would be me.” Ji Haoyue rose to his feet.
“Truly a heavenly-gifted bearing. Would you be willing to join our Divine Race? We would help you undergo a divine ancestral blood sacrifice — breaking through the final constraint that comes from being human, and transforming you into a full member of the Divine Race.” Xin Lan’s excitement was plain. This was, without question, a powerful and extraordinary new bloodline — having absorbed the Dao fragments of ancient divine beings and demons. If this bloodline joined the Divine Race, his descendants might be further strengthened, possibly advancing to the rank of a Divine Sovereign.
When the divine and divine intermarried, bloodlines remained pure — growing stronger with each generation rather than weakening.
“I am human. I have no desire to join the Divine Race.” Ji Haoyue’s answer was immediate and simple.
“Bloodlines like yours and mine are truly of the same people. Returning to the family of those who share the same blood holds boundless benefit for you — we will pass you the true Divine King Scripture, the cultivation method most suited to our kind.” Xin Lan said.
Long Ma gave her a sidelong glance. “Isn’t the Divine Race just a group of defectors? If I recall correctly, they split off from humanity — human to begin with, yet now they call themselves a separate people.”
Xin Lan did not linger. She turned and departed. But her words stirred a discussion among those gathered — perhaps they really should capture a member of the Divine Race and take a look at what this so-called Divine King Scripture was.
Boom!
In the distance, the earth trembled and mountains shook. The Ji siblings were both startled. The Void Emperor’s ancient coffin was shaking.
“Someone is making a forceful assault — this will likely bring disaster,” Ji Haoyue said.
“I don’t believe anyone can do anything to our ancestor’s coffin.” Ji Ziyue blinked her large eyes, entirely unworried.
Ye Fan thought of the people from the Eternal Star Domain — tens of thousands of years ago, several Great Saints and a vast fleet had bound this coffin with enormous iron chains, intending to haul it away. Every single one of them had perished. Looking back on it now, it must have been connected to the Emperor-level corpse that had been locked in battle with the Void Great Emperor for many tens of thousands of years, still entangled within the coffin.
The sounds quickly faded. Silence returned to that place.
“Several Great Saints have died!” Not long after, the Green Luan and the Black Bear Saint came back with news — three individuals had poured Great Saint blood upon the nine-layered ancient coffin of the mythological era, and in the end every one of them had perished.
Pang Bo drew in a sharp breath and asked, “Have you ever opened the nine-layered coffin?”
Both Ji siblings shook their heads. They had never done so.
“We need pay no attention to any of this. We go into seclusion here — whatever the outside world brings is none of our concern. Strengthening our power is what matters most,” Ye Fan said. He carried a quiet unease within him — a feeling that things were not going to be as simple as they seemed. From the mythological ancient domain to here, something about all of it felt strange and off. Staying quiet and observing from the shadows was the better approach.
Crash!
One day, the heavens and earth shook. Sun and moon shuddered together, and every star in the sky seemed on the verge of falling. Bell sounds rang out endlessly. Purple light boiled over, nearly drowning the divine domain entirely.
Had several of the divine elders not arrived in time with the killing formation diagram of the Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Venerable to hold it back, the divine domain would have been overrun!
The Ten Thousand Dragon Bell appeared — blazing in glorious radiance on this other shore of the divine, shattering the heavens with its ringing, transforming into a violet true dragon that smashed through the void!
Ever since Ye Fan had seen the dragon-headed, human-bodied ancient clan figure that time, he had carried a quiet dread — fearing the royal clan of the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest would appear here. He had never imagined that fear would now be realized.
The Humanoid Demon had devoured their Great Saints. The Ten Thousand Dragon Nest had relocated their entire clan back to their ancestral star — and now they appeared on the other shore carrying an extreme path ancient imperial weapon.
“It is only an ancient tree of life — there is no need for concern. We go into seclusion here!”
Ye Fan personally laid down the formations — sealing the entire area in ten directions through source art, then covering it all in the Heaven-Deceiving Formation, capable of deceiving even the heavens above. No outside eye would perceive what lay within.
He produced the Bodhi ancient tree, planted it upon the Divine Demon Ridge, and watered it with the life spring sacred fluid of an Ancient Heavenly Venerable. The tree turned lush and green, its branches and leaves swaying with a soft, rustling sound.
Beneath the sixteen-foot Bodhi tree, the entire group sat in meditation, cultivating earnestly — each immersed in comprehending their own Dao and technique.
Beyond that, Ye Fan planted the Qilin ancient herb before each of those gathered. Its body flickered with purple light — translucent and crystalline, its fragrance filling the air, its Life Essence spreading outward in all directions, bringing a deeper sense of calm and peace to the heart.
Time passed swiftly. The seclusion lasted thirty years. Cut off entirely from the outside world, they sat beneath the sixteen-foot Bodhi tree, tempering their soul and bone, each comprehending their own technique and path.