This group of people gathered together—noisy and lively, full of clamor—swept away all the bleakness that had come before, filling the air with a warmth of fellowship.
“Although the Black Emperor’s character is unreliable, his mastery of formation patterns is truly extraordinary—he completed two more corners of Wushi the Great Emperor’s killing formation, bringing it to three-tenths of its full power. If he were here, we could do far greater slaughter.” Li Heishui said with a sigh.
Ye Fan also sighed softly. He had no concerns about the Black Emperor’s safety, but he truly wished to find it—for in the battle at the Central Region’s Ancestral Temple, the coordinates of the Purple Subtlety Ancient Star Domain had ended up in its hands.
“Attacking the Western Desert requires careful deliberation—we cannot act rashly.”
In fact, after gathering with his old friends, Ye Fan had not at all moved westward, but was continuing northward.
There were still two important figures missing from the Heavenly Village—the Black Emperor’s disciples, the Silver-Blooded Twin Kings. All these years, these two had been drilled day and night until they howled and wailed, but the results were evident—they had undergone an ancestral reversion.
Wang Shu and Lei Bo were the supreme descendants of the Silver-Blooded lineage—not ordinary clansmen. Otherwise, the Primal Heavenly Master from ten thousand years ago would never have brought two infants back, and there would be no Wang Family and no Lei Family today.
Now, the Silver-Blooded Twin Kings were trapped in the Northern Region. Ye Fan intended to make the journey himself and see what was happening—then call them back.
“After our disastrous defeat attacking the Western Desert, Lei Bo and Wang Shu went to the Northern Region. All these years, because of their bloodline, they had dealings with certain people among the ancient clans. Unexpectedly, this time when they tried to go and call for reinforcements, they were detained instead.” Yan Yixi explained.
When Ye Fan and his group reached the Central Region, purple energy surged from the west—vast and boundless. A horde of great demons screamed across heaven and earth, like a hundred thousand celestial soldiers descending. In their forefront stood a person clad in divine war armor, a purple-gold crown upon their head—overflowing with demonic energy, eyes sharp as blades—surrounded by ancient demons arranged in a formation that orbited them like stars around the moon, clouds roiling and surging as they advanced rapidly.
“Brother Ye… is it truly you who has returned?!” The newcomer was none other than Demon Moon Kong—now the master of the Celestial Demon Palace.
“It is me. Brother Yuekong—after a hundred years apart, I trust all has been well?” Ye Fan smiled.
“Flat and tasteless. I often wanted to step into the starry sky to find you all and fight a good battle together.” Demon Moon Kong said. Now as master of the Celestial Demon Palace, he naturally had his own imposing authority and bearing—yet upon seeing old friends, he was without pretension, just as he had been in the past.
“Demon, why did you bring so many people?” Dongfang Ye asked, gripping his great club.
Up ahead, the faces of an entire group of great demons all went dark—but there was nothing to be done. Their Palace Master’s circle of friends showed no restraint at all, and only they could address him in such a way.
“Aren’t you going to attack the Western Desert? Bring more troops this time.” Demon Moon Kong said. He had contributed to the effort last time around, but had taken heavy losses without achieving anything.
“To attack the Western Desert we need an Imperial weapon—nothing else will do. You go find Yan Ruyu and ask if she can lend you the Azure Emperor’s weapon. Otherwise, this time we most likely still won’t be able to ascend Mount Sumeru.” Li Heishui said.
“Her Highness’s whereabouts are unpredictable—there are even those who say she has gone beyond the domain. I have been sending people to look for her all along, but no trace has ever been found.” Demon Moon Kong said helplessly.
“You still owe me ten demon beauties, you know—when are you going to make good on that?” Li Tian interjected.
“Palace Master, give word when you wish us to set forth, and we shall be summoned.” A group of great demons could endure no more, and temporarily excused themselves, awaiting Demon Moon Kong’s future orders.
Only Demon Moon Kong himself traveled together with the people of the Heavenly Village.
Passing by the Mountain of No Return, Ye Fan looked at it long and deeply. There, enormous peaks of black rock stood one after another, side by side on the earth, soaring into the vault of the sky—imposing and terrifying.
Strangely enough, all these years, though powerful fluctuations had occasionally emerged from this forbidden zone of life, no supreme being had ever taken a single step out of it.
All seven great forbidden zones were the same. It was like the calm before a storm—holding still, waiting for the path to immortality to open. When that day came, a world-shattering battle of contention would surely erupt.
The Sacred Cliff was also just as before—a few traces of bleakness, a few shades of desolation—yet not a single person dared to set foot there.
“In this age, it will undoubtedly be the most terrifying era in all of ancient and modern history. Every one of the seven great forbidden zones harbors a supreme being from ages past—each one with the power to pierce heaven and penetrate earth!”
Ye Fan murmured to himself. Whether the Northern Dipper Star Domain could even survive the future was an open question. Once these beings made their move, the star domain would surely collapse and all living things would be extinguished.
The Northern Dipper was a special place—known as the Planet of Emperor Burials. The formations and contingencies of ancient great emperors, as well as their weapons, had been suppressed here. Under ordinary circumstances, no such catastrophe could break through these measures.
Yet once the path to immortality opened, many things that had been thought impossible might no longer hold.
“This is the accumulation of ten thousand ages, the sediment of all time from ancient until now—all of it will detonate, concentrated into a single span of time in this very age!”
Everyone sighed softly. The future was beyond anyone’s sight.
Most likely, even the most brilliant great emperor, one who had foreseen this age, would not have been able to deduce everything precisely. There would inevitably be gaps, unexpected turns—variables no one had calculated for.
A warm spring breeze blew through the south, where all four seasons felt like spring. But arriving in the Northern Region, the north wind swept across the land, and between the great oases, yellow leaves drifted and fell—a scene of autumn’s austere severity.
When they were not far from the Divine City of the Northern Region, great drums thundered, banners and flags unfurled, and a column of troops came rushing from the direction of the Central Region. Dragon energy surged and billowed, their might shaking the nine heavens.
At their head, one man moved with the stride of a dragon and the step of a tiger—powerfully built, with a heroic, soaring bearing, an air that swallowed mountains and rivers. It was the Great Xia Crown Prince, Xia Yiming.
He wore the Ancestral Dragon Crown upon his head and the Nine-Dragon Robe upon his body. His authority needed no anger to be felt—all around him, a haze of the Imperial Dragon Dao radiated ceaselessly, a technique of incomparable offensive might given form as mist and vapor.
“Brother Ye—after so many years apart, I have missed you greatly.” The Great Xia Emperor Xia Yiming had arrived as well.
“Brother Xia—your bearing surpasses what it once was, and your cultivation advances by the day. Congratulations.” Ye Fan stepped forward to meet him.
Great Xia Emperor Xia Yiming came directly to the point: he was willing to render assistance and contribute his share of strength.
He made clear, however, that the Supreme Emperor Sword was not his to deploy—that was a matter of the gravest consequence, the supreme treasure of the Great Xia clan, and not something he alone could decide. To employ an extreme Dao Imperial weapon was too significant a matter, requiring the deliberation of all the important figures of his clan. He could not act on impulse for his own sake. And in truth, even his coming here today was only with a few personal attendants—not as a representative of the entire Great Xia Divine Dynasty.
At a distance stood a young woman in white as snow: Xia Yilin—her large eyes bright and clear. The little nun of former days had long since grown up, and had returned to secular life.
Both of this brother and sister had come, deeply surprised that Ye Fan had returned from the ancient path. They had come to see him and were willing to lend a hand.
“Little Sister Yilin, long time no see—I’ve missed you terribly.” Li Tian greeted her warmly and enthusiastically—only to receive a pronounced rolling of the eyes.
“The momentum grows ever stronger.” Old Slaughter Sage Qi Luo nodded with approval.
Whether it was Demon Moon Kong or the Great Xia Emperor, both had identities of no ordinary standing. Even if neither were to strike personally, the fact of their journeying to the Western Desert would form an enormous pressure in and of itself.
The Divine City was immense and imposing. This time Ye Fan was not merely passing through—he was truly entering it—and in an instant it caused a tremendous uproar. Long ago he had engaged in the stone gambling battle here, and that story still circulated to this day.
“Master!” Before long, someone cried out in a high voice—panting, overwhelmed with excitement—and came rushing over rapidly. He was a young Daoist, and he fell to his knees with one bow and called out “Master,” tears in his eyes.
It was the minor Celestial Master Zhang Yangqing—Ye Fan’s registered disciple who had been brought here from Earth. After so many years, they were reunited in the Divine City.
Ye Fan helped him to his feet, his heart filled with guilt. This disciple had essentially been left to his own devices—Ye Fan had brought him to the Northern Dipper, taught him his techniques, and then ascended to the sky and departed, never having given him careful guidance.
Not far away stood another figure—upright and tall, with a head of brilliant golden hair glittering like gold itself, handsome of face, his eyes filled with the markings of ages. He carried a dragon lance on his back and cut an overall figure that was powerfully divine—like a deity from the celestial realms.
Everyone was taken aback, for this man was extraordinarily powerful. Qi Luo, Dongfang Ye, Long Ma, and the others all sensed it at once: this man was on the very threshold of entering the Great Sage realm—he was a Heavenly King!
This was the Divine Knight, who had also come from Earth—one of the few who had set out on this journey together with Ye Fan all those years ago.
Ye Fan was not the least bit surprised that the Divine Knight had reached such a level of cultivation, for the Divine Knight absolutely had such a foundation. Back on Earth he had been suppressed for a very long time.
In any other land, his cultivation at that time would never have been as low as the Severed Dao realm—he had simply been suppressed far too severely.
On Earth, with no way to come close to the Dao, and with spiritual energy exhausted, cultivation had been all but impossible—yet the Divine Knight had still reached that height. One could imagine how extraordinary his natural gifts and his accumulated depth were.
Ye Fan could already see that the Divine Knight becoming a Great Sage was a certainty—he could step across that threshold at virtually any moment now. He was deliberately holding himself back, not yet undergoing his tribulation.
“Congratulations, Fellow Daoist—two thousand years of cultivation in the Dao, and you have finally broken free of your cage and refined a cultivation fruit of singular achievement.” Ye Fan said.
The Divine Knight was not much given to words. He came directly to tell Ye Fan that he would accompany him to the Western Desert and fight that battle.
“Excellent—the force grows more and more powerful. Ye Fan, why don’t you simply issue a call-to-arms, gather the heroes of the world right here, and lead them all together to attack Mount Sumeru!” Li Heishui proposed.
Ye Fan nodded. “I have exactly that intention. The Buddhist sect’s power is vast—the people of the world must strike together.”
He wished to create a grand momentum—to issue a summons to the heroes of all the world, raise a banner, and march together on the Great Thunder Sound Temple. Of course, he knew that few would truly make a move. But it would undoubtedly stir up a tremendous tempest, with many people who would not personally participate still fanning the flames and driving the tide.
That would be sufficient. When the great tide of the world began to rise, it would make the Western Desert tremble. If it could achieve the submission of one’s enemy without fighting, that would be best of all. If Mount Sumeru held firm to the end, then there would still be time to fight.
“The enlightened predecessors of the Buddhist sect gave their very bodies to feed tigers, cut their flesh to feed eagles, and held boundless compassion for all living beings in their hearts. Yet the Mount Sumeru of today, relying on magical power, no longer distinguishes right from wrong—it preys upon the strong and bullies the weak, tramples upon Buddhist teachings, converts people into slaves, deceives the world and steals its name, and conducts itself like demons…”
When the declaration of war was issued, the Divine City erupted in excitement, and the world was thrown into an uproar—a great shockwave that shook the heavens.
“We support the Heavenly Village’s attack on the Western Buddhist Land.”
“Mount Sumeru is no longer a place of purity—there must be a battle.”
The world was in tumult. Many people feared nothing more than that the world would not be chaotic—just as Ye Fan had anticipated, they would not make a move themselves, but they fanned the flames from every direction. Anti-Buddhist sentiment spread from every territory, as though the entire world were rising in denunciation.
Those with ulterior motives made up the majority, stirring the voices of the world, driving the tide from every land. Even sages from beyond the domain expressed their positions one by one, declaring support for the unified banner—everyone wanting to use Ye Fan’s hand to take the measure of the unfathomable Buddhist sect.
The ancient clans were no different—they were the ones most wary of Mount Sumeru. They gave their vocal and forceful support, all wishing to borrow Ye Fan’s hand to probe just how deep the Buddhist sect truly ran.
It was a surging tide—voices of discussion rose from everywhere across the world, with person after person standing forth to call for the world to face a common enemy and march together to attack the Western Desert, to ascend Mount Sumeru. The clamor grew louder and louder.
“Mount Sumeru will no longer be sitting at ease now—with this tide rising, they must be growing uneasy. This is a wave of chaos, and what’s more, a great current of the age!”
Clearly, the waves grew wilder and wilder, with all manner of people stepping forward to call for the world to unite and attack together—the noise was tremendous.
“Master, I have come!” Long Yuxuan arrived—this was the other of the two registered disciples Ye Fan had brought from Earth, with the elder Roc King following in his wake.
The Golden-Winged Young Roc King of former days had died. The elder Roc King had placed all his hope in Long Yuxuan, naturally heartbroken at the loss, but later he had seen in Long Yuxuan—a member of the Dragon Sparrow clan—the same qualities as the Young Roc King, and had earnestly guided him. And since the elder Roc King himself had made tremendous advances in the wake of the great transformation of heaven and earth, he had reached a height that was breathtaking to contemplate.
Divine light swept across the sky as the Peacock King and the Red Dragon Daoist arrived together. The two of them were now counted among the unfathomably powerful, leading many powerful demon clan cultivators and responding to Ye Fan’s call as they came to lend their aid.
Boom!
A terrifying aura erupted. A woman appeared—hair flying freely, exquisitely beautiful and transcendent, her figure graceful and elegant—and yet she radiated the aura of a Great Sage, shaking the entire Northern Region.
The Divine Silkworm Princess had arrived, responding to Ye Fan’s summons. After all these years, she had used the great transformation of heaven and earth to her advantage and successfully advanced into the Great Sage realm.
On her shoulder perched a small creature full of mischievous spirit—the divine silkworm that Ye Fan had once extracted from her body. It had by now transformed into the shape of a small monkey, which no matter how one looked at it bore a resemblance to the Battle-Saint Ape. No one could say how many transformations it had completed—its large eyes rolled and spun ceaselessly, having never chosen a human form.
In addition to the Divine Silkworm Princess, she had also brought a young Daoist who reeked of drink—a son of an ancient emperor, the Divine Silkworm Daoist!
The waves grew larger and larger. Now that even this Daoist had joined in, the news spread like an explosion racing to every corner of the world, leaving everyone shaken.
“Mount Sumeru will not be sitting calm and indifferent now—they must be growing increasingly apprehensive. This is a torrent of chaos, and above all, a great current of the age!”
Clearly, the storm only intensified, with all manner of people stepping forth to call for the world to unite as one—the clamor was deafening.
“We have come to the Northern Region—are the Silver-Blooded Twin Kings still being detained? Have they not been released?”