“Wuuu—” Like demons weeping, like wandering spirits wailing — this stretch of heaven and earth fell into a dim and somber gloom, covered by leaden clouds.
It was a scene to make one’s skin crawl. When had the area before the Western Land’s Mount Sumeru ever seen such abnormalities — as though the gates of hell had been flung open and hundreds of millions of fierce spirits had charged out.
Red hair whirlwinds swept through the area. Malicious spirits and wandering demons flickered and shifted. Ghosts cried and spirits howled. This place had become simply unbearable — as if the gates of the underworld had opened wide and Yin energy shot skyward.
The ghost winds split the sky — deeply unsettling, howling without stop. In the distance, several low hills were torn up by the roots. It was an extremely horrifying sight.
Crack!
From within the dim, murky mist, streaks of blood-colored lightning suddenly split the sky — strikingly vivid, lurid and brilliant as splatters of fresh blood blooming open, filling those who saw them with dread.
These developments were so startling that people were at a complete loss.
“Rain is falling — why does it smell so foul?!”
From the sky above, raindrops fell — carrying a piercing, nauseating stench of blood that made everyone’s hair stand on end.
Looking up, every single person felt a chill shoot through them. A torrential blood rain was falling across heaven and earth, pounding down rapidly. The sight was gory and spectacular — like streams of small rivers descending from above, crimson and eye-searing, and in an instant it was already striking the ground.
This was the Buddhist sect’s pure land — and yet on this day, with so many cultivators present, such a thing had occurred. It left the assembled crowd utterly stupefied.
“It’s directed at Ye Fan!” Dongfang Ye said, his eyes fixed on the darkening and dim mist, his gaze filled with wild ferocity. He raised his great club and was about to charge in and smash it.
“The later years of a Source Celestial Master,” Ji Ziyue said in alarm, her face revealing a look of deep worry.
“Do not act rashly — do not provoke these things,” Ye Fan said gravely, his expression serious. The premonition of inauspiciousness he had felt earlier had proven correct.
Across the surface of his body, a layer of red hair stubbornly regrew — piercing back through the skin again, looking deeply unsettling.
Those watching from a distance understood what was happening. One by one their backs ran cold. As powerful as Ye Fan was — at such a level of cultivation — he had still been enveloped by inauspiciousness, and such bizarre developments had occurred.
“Every Source Celestial Master throughout history has met a terrible death — not a single one died peacefully. It seems his curse has manifested early.”
“As saints, who among us would believe in ghosts or spirits? This must be a fatal flaw of a great inheritance — seemingly bizarre, but in truth inevitable.”
The assembled saints had naturally witnessed the flickering demonic shadows. Some even considered striking out to capture one for examination — but ultimately held back. For the later years of a Source Celestial Master were deeply bizarre, and far too chilling. In ancient times, there had been a Saint King-level Sacred Physique who had gone into seclusion together with an aging Source Celestial Master — and in the end, blood stained the great wilderness.
“This is destiny, heh!” Someone gloated quietly. Yet seeing how dominant Ye Fan had been in recent days, no one dared show it openly.
Many watched with eyes that never blinked. Only some of the elder patriarchs of the ancient clans furrowed their brows — as did certain great saints who had come from beyond the domain, lost in thought.
“I haven’t even reached old age yet — and you dare try to bind me?!” Ye Fan let out a cold snort. He was utterly fearless. Golden vital energy blazed across his entire body — stripping away the red hair layer by layer until it was finally, completely eradicated, unable to grow back.
Previously he had needed to rely on the Green Copper Cauldron. Now he could manage it with his own power alone.
“Wuuu—wuuu—” Demonic shadows flickered. The ominous wind howled. Accompanied by the torrential blood rain and the red-hair whirlwinds, a group of spirit-like humanoid creatures drew near.
As they came close, one could see clearly — their entire bodies were covered in corpse hair, all of it over half a foot in length. Some were jet black all over; others were red as blood. Hideous and fearsome.
“Clash!”
The sound of iron chains — amid blood rain and dim murky mist — was especially hair-raising, truly as though the dead from the netherworld had arrived to drag away a soul.
“Hmph — I want to see for myself how you intend to bring inauspiciousness upon me,” Ye Fan said without fear. He actually took large strides forward to meet them.
“Owwooo—”
A shrill howl rang out — soul-stirring, ear-splitting — like a pack of fierce ghosts bursting loose. It sent a chill from head to foot through many of those watching. This was no simple matter — these were Saint Ghost Kings.
“Do you think I am like the founding patriarchs of old, someone to be bullied?!” Ye Fan’s eyes flickered with cold light. He transformed into a streak of golden lightning and charged in — striking first.
“Bang!”
He slapped a palm outward, sending the red-haired monster at the center flying — on the spot shattering it and blasting it away. These were not the founding patriarchs of old — they were a group of powerful Yin spirits, and he struck without restraint.
“Sput!”
The one in the center was directly blasted into pieces — its body becoming pulp, splattering points of fresh blood everywhere.
Neither quite human, nor quite ghost. They were a peculiar form of life, each one frightening — enough to give anyone pause.
Ye Fan moved like lightning, wielding the Fist of the Heavenly Emperor in sweeping strikes across all directions. Golden fists blazed with brilliant radiance — like two great smelting furnaces burning fiercely — enough to collapse the heavens.
In nearly an instant, he resolved the entire group of Yin spirits, leaving only one behind. He seized it in one hand and forcibly searched its sea of consciousness, wanting to understand what they were.
“Wuuu—”
Regrettably, these inauspicious creatures operated on pure instinct alone and had very little in the way of thought. The clues within their minds were sparse and simple — these were lifeforms that had only just awakened rudimentary intelligence, still chaotic and unformed.
From a distance, everyone was dumbfounded. This human Sacred Physique was simply too ferocious — facing inauspiciousness and showing not the slightest anxiety, he had straightforwardly wiped out the entire group of demonic shadows and finally seized one in his grip.
“A true world-shaking baleful star!”
“An utterly heaven-defying brute!”
These were the inward thoughts of many — they could not help but quietly exclaim.
What had clearly been a scene of inauspiciousness had ended with Ye Fan beating the red-haired monsters to death in a furious rampage, wiping out every single one — an experience entirely unlike anything the founding Source Celestial Masters of past generations had gone through.
When it came down to it, Ye Fan was simply powerful enough. Now possessed of the battle power of an initial-stage Great Saint, this inauspiciousness could not shake him — whoever came would only be killed in return.
Ye Fan finished searching through the creature’s dim and chaotic sea of consciousness and crushed its skull with a single slap — sending it toppling to the ground, dissolving into a pool of blood, then burning away to ash.
Everyone stood there dumbstruck. This human Sacred Physique was so dominant. Who had been troubling whom, exactly? No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like he had been dealing with a bunch of common country ruffians — cutting them all down cleanly.
“The Underworld!”
Only two words left Ye Fan’s lips. Through searching its murky and dim thoughts, he had gained some insight — these were soldiers of the Underworld, come to bind him here.
Naturally, they had not been acting on orders. It was because the Source Formation he had laid down was so astonishing that it had stirred the instincts of these creatures — and even more so, the surging Emperor deathly aura had awakened them.
Both the Source Heavenly Formation and the deathly aura of the Emperor’s corpse were things that could disturb them. These dim and confused creatures had been drawn here. With no one in charge to restrain them, this was the result.
“The Underworld has troops stationed in the Western Desolation — their ambitions are great!” Ye Fan said coldly.
As it happened, he had stumbled into it today — and they had come to bind him. This left him rather dismayed, and he shook his head despite himself.
Once those creatures were slain, all the bizarre and abnormal phenomena vanished.
The elder patriarchs of the ancient clans and the great saints from beyond the domain all furrowed their brows — and together arrived at the same thought regarding this lineage: the Underworld. Many spoke to themselves, saying: “Can it be that they have truly come? If so, the Northern Dipper will know no peace in days to come.”
Pursuing corpses and chasing souls — that was the Underworld. So many years had passed. Had they truly decided to make their move against the Burial Emperor Star? If they succeeded, it would be an extraordinary feast for them.
Although it had been unexpectedly interrupted, the battle had still to continue — and the divine spirit coffin was at this moment continuously releasing deathly aura, wearing down the faith power of Mount Sumeru. Even if it could not ignite it, it could still consume it — for the two forces were in opposition and would inevitably clash with one another, expending enormous amounts of faith power.
Ye Fan was decisive. He drank a flask of the Celestial Venerable’s life spring liquid to replenish his vital energy, then once more opened a wound at his chest and refined the essence of his heart’s blood.
His mind was made up — he would open the ninth layer of the coffin, let the Emperor’s body emerge into the world, and suppress it toward the gates of Mount Sumeru to open a path through.
His heart’s blood was like liquid gold — brilliant and blazing. Drop by drop it fell upon the divine spirit stone coffin, sending it shuddering violently. The crack grew larger — Emperor deathly aura flooded the sky, rolling out in waves, as though it would not rest until it had submerged Mount Sumeru entirely.
Ye Fan activated the Source Arts Formation, driving the ancient coffin nearly to the closest point before Mount Sumeru.
“Boom!”
Mount Sumeru shook. It sensed a threat. With a Great Emperor’s level corpse on the verge of emerging from the coffin, even this eternal Buddhist mountain of ten thousand ages could not remain calm — the two forces locked in mutual opposition.
“Benefactor Ye, are you truly going to see this through to the end?” The old monk Mo Ke grew anxious.
Ye Fan paid no heed. Having come this far, he had already expended such a vast quantity of his life essence blood — the most precious thing in the world. How could he stop now?
Crack!
A terrifying sound rang out. The divine spirit ancient coffin — buried above the nine heavens — had its final layer opened. The coffin lid fell aside. In an instant, fierce winds howled, the sun and moon trembled, and the countless stars of the heavenly river shuddered!
In just that single moment, the entire Western Desolation felt as though ten thousand great mountains had been pressed down upon it — every single person was left breathless. Even great saints felt fear surge in their hearts.
The small coffin was only the length of a thumb — yet within, chaos surged and billowed, as though an entirely new world were there, in the midst of creation, opening the heavens and splitting the earth!
The stone coffin looked very small — it could be held in the palm — yet within it, a separate cosmos existed. Gazing into it, one’s very soul felt as though it might be drawn inside, swallowed by something as vast as an endless ocean.
At this moment, not a single person was not trembling — great saints included. Many of the saints could not stop themselves from falling to their knees, their spirits shaking violently, their divine senses on the verge of shattering.
Within the thumb-sized small coffin, Emperor deathly aura and chaos erupted together, pressing toward Mount Sumeru, bearing down with absolute suppressive force.
Ye Fan bore an immense weight of pressure. He finally pushed the ancient coffin toward Mount Sumeru — yet with that movement, the many Source Heavenly veining networks shattered directly, dissolving into dust.
It must be understood that many of those had been sacred bones, divine materials, and Saint King implements — and even they could not withstand the impact of a single mysterious fluctuation emanating from within the Emperor coffin!
“Great Emperor’s… body!”
The crowd trembled, barely able to force out those four words. It had truly emerged into the world — only an Emperor’s body could produce such a presence.
“Boom!”
Finally, chaos expanded to its fullest. Emperor deathly aura filled the sky. Everything erupted. From within the coffin surged a truly Emperor-level aura and fluctuation, sweeping across all nine heavens and ten earths.
The assembled saints were completely subdued, trembling with fear, unable even to speak. All of this was far too overwhelming.
Only one person cried out — that was the Silkworm Daoist. Two terrifying beams of light shot from his eyes. And then, unable to stop himself, he murmured: “Father… is it truly you?”
Those nearby heard it. Qi Luo, Ye Tong, the Undying Elder — every single one of them felt the hair rise on their scalps. This was the Ancient Emperor of Silkworm Ridge? Far too inconceivable!
The Silkworm Princess too was shaken, murmuring to herself: “The Ancient Emperor… how can this be? Was it not said that his coffin blazed with nine colors soaring into the heavens, condensing the primordial heaven and earth, enormous beyond measure, spanning the star rivers? How has it come to be like this?!”