“What do we do?” Dongfang Ye asked, his hair a disheveled mess, his bronze-hued body as powerful as a flood dragon as he raised his massive club and gestured toward Mount Sumeru.

“Yin and Yang in harmony,” Ye Fan replied.

The Western Desolation was vast and boundless. One could tell from its very name what kind of place it was — the most common sight was golden desert, with scattered oases dotting the landscape like pearls.

Ye Fan soared into the air, his Source Heavenly Eye sending out sharp rays that took in every mountain and river below.

The so-called oases were enormous — the smallest stretched for thousands of miles, while the larger ones spanned tens of thousands of miles across, far beyond any scale one might imagine on the other side of the starry sky.

In truth, if all the oases were combined, their total area would be an astronomical figure — staggeringly vast, worthy of being called an immeasurable Buddha’s Pure Land.

Ye Fan stood in the void, imprinting countless runes upon it. The Word Technique was in motion, releasing streaks of lightning as he measured the circumference of Mount Sumeru.

Finally, he returned to his original position. Many people watched him, bewildered.

The saints from beyond the domain were all astonished. Today, Ye Fan had been exceptionally aggressive — leading a siege against Mount Sumeru and deploying so many Emperor Artifacts, which had been truly awe-inspiring. Yet even after all of that, they had still failed to break through. What other methods could he possibly rely on?

“What is he trying to do?”

“Is there anything more powerful than the weapons of the Ancient Great Emperors?”

Many shook their heads, refusing to believe he could defy heaven. At this point, the consensus was that it would be very difficult to change the outcome.

Ye Tong’s eyes lit up. Watching Ye Fan walk and measure the perimeter of Mount Sumeru on foot, they had already begun to guess what he was planning.

Next, Ye Fan fell into silent contemplation, continuously carving into the void as though calculating something. Endless runes surfaced — like the feathers of a phoenix, brilliant and breathtaking, yet deeply unsettling.

Source Arts!

Ye Fan was employing Source Arts to perform complex calculations, intending to lay down a dense formation around Mount Sumeru and trap it within.

“If Emperor Artifacts couldn’t do it, can Source Arts?” Qi Luo asked with doubt. The old assassin felt truly helpless against Mount Sumeru. It really seemed like there was nothing left to try.

“We’ll know once we try — and this is only the first step,” Ye Fan answered.

All around, people gradually understood what he was attempting. They acknowledged his power and had come to understand just how formidable he truly was — yet they still could not believe he could seal Mount Sumeru.

Even those on his own side — the Silkworm Princess, the Undying Elder, and others — harbored doubts, thinking this was unlikely to work. But Ye Fan was unmoved, studying the problem with focused deliberation.

“Let me give it a try,” he said after some time, lifting his head and gazing out across the Western Desolation toward Mount Sumeru, preparing to begin.

“Roar—!”

Ye Fan let out a long howl. Golden vital energy surged from the crown of his skull and shot skyward. He began to act — both hands sweeping through the air, drawing out the dragon qi that lay beneath the earth of Mount Sumeru.

This was a great dragon — a supreme ancestral dragon without equal in the world. Apart from ancient veins like Kunlun, few could compare.

In that moment, the divine marrow underground, the dragon qi, the source qi — all of it boiled and surged, drawn forth by him and resonating with his will. With a single sweep of his hand, vast networks of veins appeared, all driven deep into the earth, engraving laws upon it.

This was an immense undertaking. Ye Fan poured his heart and soul into it, exhausting every ounce of mental strength over a full eight days and eight nights, until even his hair was tinged with a frost of white.

For him, those eight days and eight nights were the equivalent of eighty — perhaps even a hundred — years. His entire spirit was submerged in the work. He forgot everything else. Outside the formation, nothing existed.

At last, he let out a long breath. Around Mount Sumeru, runes were densely packed — the entire mountain had become forbidden ground.

Ji Ziyue stepped forward and offered him a vial of Ancient Celestial Venerable’s life spring liquid. He took it, drank a mouthful, and rested for a while before the exhaustion finally left him and he recovered.

Even the Sacred Physique, with its abundant vital energy, had been brought to such a state — one could imagine what an extraordinary expenditure this had been. Under normal circumstances, laying down such a formation would take years.

“Is it done?” Qi Luo asked, the old assassin’s face tinged with worry.

During these days, not a single one of the saints from beyond the domain had left — in fact, more had arrived. With such a world-shaking development unfolding, who wouldn’t want to witness the outcome with their own eyes?

None of them believed Ye Fan possessed the means to defy heaven. Though they would never express it openly, inwardly they were scoffing — thinking that trying to seal Mount Sumeru with a formation was pure fantasy.

“This has only just begun,” Ye Fan replied.

He soared into the air, gazing up at the sun, moon, and stars, carving even more complex runes — etching them one by one into the void, and even inscribing some directly into the fabric of the starry sky.

Throughout this process, Ye Fan spared no expense, drawing out the vast stores of divine materials he had accumulated over years of contending across the ancient starry roads.

There were the bones of saints, the great Luo silver essence, various divine implements, star river divine sand — all precious materials, originally meant for Heaven’s Village. But today, he could not afford such hesitations.

All of it became material for the formation. He intended to lay down an unparalleled grand array to entrap and refine the Buddhist sect.

The crowd was left dumbstruck. Were those the skeletal remains of a soaring serpent? And fragments of the stone man’s sacred spirit, along with the bones of a great saint, and even the crimson gold of phoenix blood?!

The sheer scale of what Ye Fan was deploying left many in a stupor. The extravagance was beyond belief — one person alone, yet his reserves rivaled a great treasure vault.

Setting aside the sacred bones and holy implements — even the most primitive divine materials alone were enough to make eyes burn with envy. And among them was immortal gold — more than one kind, no less!

True, each piece was small, not large — but even so, it was enough to shake the world. People’s mouths went dry. They stared, slack-jawed, nearly unable to think straight.

“A divine treasury!”

Someone exclaimed. To have so many treasures — Ye Fan was truly a great fat sheep ripe for the plundering. Yet after witnessing his performance in recent days, every such thought evaporated immediately. Going up against him would be nothing short of suicide.

In the heavens above, sacred bones stood as stone, war weapons served as banners, and divine gold formed the veining — dazzling and magnificent. Ye Fan carved formation runes, drawing upon the power of all the stars in the sky as it surged down in torrents.

What was happening beneath the earth, no one could see — it was all within the veins of the ancestral dragon. But in the sky above, everything was laid bare: an endless radiance of starlight, vast as a misty ocean, pouring down.

“He has moved all the heavens — this technique steals the creative forces of heaven and earth!” The crowd drew sharp breaths.

Whatever else might be said, today’s battle would make Ye Fan’s name thunder across the Six Directions and Eight Wastes for ages to come. Who would dare to challenge him? A single person capable of mobilizing so many Emperor Artifacts — the mere thought sent shivers down anyone’s spine.

And now he had revealed this level of mastery in Source Arts, making people fear him all the more. Many had come to see him as a baleful star to be avoided at all costs — in their eyes, he was a great Demon Sovereign whom one must never approach.

“Master’s Source Arts have finally reached full mastery. Even Old Uncle Zhang in his grave would be deeply moved,” Ye Tong said.

Time spares no one. Old Uncle Zhang had passed away many years ago. He had not been a cultivator — he only knew some rudimentary cultivation methods, and his Source Arts had never reached a true level of mastery. His lifespan had been limited.

“So this is what supreme Source Arts looks like — reaching a certain realm truly allows one to reshape heaven and earth. He has actually done it,” many people from Heaven’s Village murmured.

Ye Fan had by now surpassed the realm of the Source Celestial Master. After years of contemplating the Dao, he stood on par with several founding patriarchs, and had formed his own unique insights — enough to seal the heavens with a formation.

Techniques like the Six Seals of Immortal Prohibition — that derived forbidden Source Art weaving — were but one component of this supreme grand array. The formation embodied the essence of his Source Dao accumulated over many years.

The array incorporated the laws and formation runes of the super star domain divine map he had once seen in the Fiftieth City of the Human Race, and further condensed the blood and effort of generations of Source Celestial Master lineage — a crystallization of all forms of Source Arts melded into a single furnace.

In the past, “reshaping heaven and earth” had been nothing more than a figure of speech for Ye Fan — most commonly used to describe altering one’s appearance. Today, he had truly done it.

And within this grand array, that was merely a minor technique — a partial expression of its power.

When the immense source formation was complete, Ye Fan was utterly spent. Both his body and his nascent spirit had dimmed considerably. He rested for a long while before recovering.

“Can this really seal Mount Sumeru?” All the saints were skeptical, many inwardly scoffing.

“Benefactor, your attachments run far too deep. You need to turn back from your errant path and depart from this place,” said the old monk Mo Ke from atop Mount Sumeru, his face full of compassion as he chanted the name of Amitabha Buddha.

The golden-bodied arhats, guardian heavenly kings, bodhisattvas, and ancient Buddhas — none of them showed any fear. Each maintained a solemn and dignified bearing, yet inwardly dismissed the whole affair. Just a formation — could it really compare to Mount Sumeru?

“Activate the array!”

Ye Fan shouted, activating the vast source formation array. Runes flickered across the sky, stirring the earth. In an instant, the winds and clouds shifted and the heavens and earth lost their color.

From the cosmos, boundless starlight came cascading down. Underground dragon qi and source qi boiled and surged. Yin and Yang united in perfect balance, sealing this place — the formation moved to refine and consume Mount Sumeru.

Boom!

Even a mountain as powerful as Mount Sumeru shuddered. The light of countless stars in the heavens pressed down — a sight to shake the soul.

Yet it was no more than a single tremor. The mountain quickly settled, becoming still as a boulder once more, returning to its original state.

Everyone shook their heads. The saints from beyond the domain and the ancient clans scoffed inwardly, thinking Ye Fan was far too arrogant. Did he truly intend to match wits with an Ancient Great Emperor — even one already dead?

“Benefactor, why put yourself through this? Your worldly heart is too heavy — you cannot let go, cannot put things down. In the end, you will only hurt yourself. You bring suffering upon yourself needlessly,” Mo Ke pressed his palms together and said.

“You bald thieving monk — keep babbling and this lord will roast you in the future!” Long Ma raged, utterly indignant.

The people of Heaven’s Village felt helpless, deeply regretful as well. The grand array was truly extraordinary — it had stolen the creative forces of heaven and earth — yet it still could not suppress and seal Mount Sumeru.

“I would borrow the use of your Emperor Artifacts,” Ye Fan said, turning to the Silkworm Princess, the Undying Elder, Ji Ziyue, and the others. He took the lead by placing the Green Copper Cauldron and the Slaughter Sword into the Source Heavenly Forbidden Sacred Formation.

In that moment, everyone was stunned. They stared wide-eyed at Ye Fan’s formation and discovered the several positions he had deliberately left open — slots meant for formation banners.

The Green Copper Cauldron and the Slaughter Sword immediately filled two of those positions. The Void Mirror then filled another. The Heaven-Swallowing Jar and the nine-colored battle armor from Silkworm Ridge also took their places — the grand array shuddered, as though an ancient Emperor had returned to life.

In just that single instant, Mount Sumeru was shaken!

What is the essence of a Source Heavenly Formation? It borrows the great momentum of heaven and earth — channeling the dragon qi of earth veins and the power of sun, moon, and stars to generate might, drawing upon the primal source of heaven and earth.

Now, Ye Fan’s formation drew directly upon the primal source of the Emperor Artifacts themselves. How could that not move heaven and shake earth? As for the vital energy the Emperor Artifacts required — it was drawn straight from the immortal radiance of the cosmic star rivers.

Vast mist enveloped everything, and the entirety of Mount Sumeru grew faint and indistinct — boundless killing intent saturating the air!

This place was shrouded in primordial chaos qi, truly sealed and trapped — like a cage. Whether it could be refined and consumed was another matter, but right now, it was absolutely isolated from the outside world. The momentum was earth-shattering.

The crowd felt their hair stand on end. Every face changed color. Just moments ago many still harbored disdain — yet in the blink of an eye, everything had changed.

“Perhaps… it really is possible to break open Mount Sumeru?” the wild man said excitedly, scratching his tangled, grass-like hair with a grin that showed a mouthful of snow-white teeth. He raised his massive club and sneered toward the Great Thunder Sound Temple.

“Yin and Yang in harmony — this is only the first step. ‘Yang’ represents aggression and slaughter, but the gentle force is also needed to dissolve resistance. The next step will require everyone’s efforts,” Ye Fan said.